A Change in Plans
by Iridian NightShade
Summary: Sam's cousin has always been different. Despite this, she and Sam had always been close. When the Autobots come into the picture, will she allow her beloved cousin to deal with the repercussions of their arrival, or shoulder the responsibility herself?
1. The Cousin and the Car

Summary: Sam's cousin has always been different. Despite this, she and Sam had always been close. When the Autobots come into the picture, will she allow her beloved cousin to deal with the repercussions of their arrival, or shoulder the responsibility herself? Is she strong enough to? Also, what is the connection she shares with several Decepticons? As well as the Allspark?

Warnings: I've watched the Movies, I've seen most of the episodes of Beast Wars and Beast Machines, seen some episodes of Armada and read various online stuff. I do not know most of the storylines in Generation one, but I do know most of the characters and their personalities. This will be a mix-matched version of what I do know, and probably will only make sense to me and those who have an open mind. The movies are awesome in special effects, and as I know them best, I will be using them as the starting point, but with info from other areas, such as the Ark having been crashed on Earth for a long time. I will also be royally screwing some things on PURPOSE to suit how I felt some things could have gone. In my mind this is all in a sort of ANIME-STYLE not live-action characters. Some bots and cons will be Movie style in alt mode, others will be Gen One.

Also, some terms down below I made up, the time terms for the Cybertronians are relative from what I've read about. My Cybertronian Culture Notes are mine, my view of how the Fallen's disgrace had occurred, and the surviving Prime who returned to Cybertron after that betrayal. I do not approve of plagiarizing otherwise I would happily incorporate the awesome ideas of other authors such as the Carrying Holds, the Spike and Port Interface Array, and other misc. things.

I don't remember however if I had read in someone else's story about Budding. If I did I do apologize, however the explanations below took me a long time to figure out and put into words. If the Budding Process has been used, I'll simply change the name to something else since my explanation is my own.

Terms:

**Bud Spark** – an influx of energy formed during the action of Spark Interface, not necessarily during regular interface. This bud is highly sensitive to various conditions, dissipating if not properly contained or formed. Should all conditions be met, the bud will attach itself to the stronger Spark and form into a Semi Spark.

**Semi Spark** – a half-formed spark still in the stage of development. It is still sensitive but stronger than a Bud. Unless the Bearer Spark is weakened, or outright rejects the Young Spark, it will fully mature into a Sparkling after 10 orns.

**Sparkling** – Newborn. Refers to Unborn Sparks to Young Sparks roughly a single Vorn old.

**Youngling** – Child. Refers to Young Sparks roughly from 1 vorn to 10 vorns old. Also can be used by older Cybertronians when referring to those younger than them.

**Mech Spark** – a normal spark designed to power a frame. A mech spark has a 20% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another mech spark. Should enough energy be stored and such a bud spark be formed, the bud spark will pick the Mech Spark more efficient or stronger to be it's Bearer. Mech Sparks are either blue or red.

**Femme Spark**- a rarely produced, stronger and more potent spark that utilizes energy more efficiently than a Mech Spark. A Femme Spark has a 40% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another spark, mech or femme. Femme Sparks are white, or very rarely, gold.

**Creator** – a single Cybertronian who decides to apply for a sparkling from the Allspark OR had created a Sparkling via Budding with another Cybertronian.

**Bearer** – a single Cybertronian who underwent the Budding process and was chosen to carry the Semi Spark. Only if the Semi Spark fully forms into a Sparkling can the Mature Spark be considered a Bearer Spark.

**Bearer Sparks** – sparks that had undergone the Budding Process and produced living Sparklings. After the birthing of a Sparkling, the Mature Spark is considered a Bearer Spark. Bearer Sparks become highly receptive to Spark Energies, the percentage of becoming a Bearer again doubles. Mech Sparks- 20% to 40%. Femme Sparks - 40% to 80%.

**Spark Shields** – equivalent of birth control, normally only used during unsettled times of war or, in Bearer cases, to prevent Spark Exhaustion.

**Caretakers **– Cybertronians who have undergone training and received Creator programming to look after another's Sparklings and Younglings OR Cybertronians who have activated programming due to being Creators themselves, either through the Allspark or Budding.

**Cybertronian Culture Notes: **Mech and Femme frames do not mean male frames and female frames. All frames are built with an Interfacing Array, including ports and cables. Interface without Sparks will not cause Budding, but will store energy influxes to increase chances of Budding when Spark Interface is initiated.

It is perfectly normal for mechs to pair together, as well as femmes to pair together. They do not believe in homosexuality or heterosexuality defining whether a mech or femme is good or not. Because of the ratio of mechs to femmes, it is perfectly normal for mechs to be with each other. In most cases, mechs actually are normal regular interface partners.

They also are not against polygamy. Regular Interface, depending on how far they go, range from showing deep friendship, to showing strong trust, as well as showing intimate connections. Spark Interface is the most intimate form of affection, it also synchronizes the Spark patterns, to allow them to connect deeper. If Sparks are compatible, if the Cybertronians so choose, they can establish a stronger link with one or two others. Linking with compatible Sparks, is as close yet deeper than human marriage customs. Due to different frames needing certain needs, it is entirely possible that two who are Linked, still have other regular interface partners that are not their Linked. Being Linked simply means that they are closer than any others, and would be the preferred partner in Spark Interfacing.

Mech Bearers are also often times referred to as Femmes, due to the higher Budding percentage, depending on a Mech's perception this may be taken as a compliment or insult. They are not true Femmes however, since their Sparks are not as energy efficient nor as strong as True Femme Sparks.

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN MECH AND FEMME FRAMES IS THEIR SPARKS! THEY HAVE NO GENDERS!

Spark coloration is varied. Mech Sparks are usually Blue or Red, whereas Femme Sparks are normally White, or very rarely Gold. Scientists have argued since the beginning of records as to why the Sparks are varied. Only the Allspark CORE Guardians know the answer but have refused to answer or ask the Allspark for its reasons.

**Klik** – roughly 1 Earth minute.

**Breem** – roughly 8 Earth minutes.

**Joor** - roughly 7 Earth hours.

**Orn** - roughly 13 Earth days.

**Vorn** - roughly 83 Earth years.

- Until All Are One -

Title: A Change In Plans

Chapter One: The Cousin and the Car

- Until All Are One -

Samuel Witwicky was excited as he rushed through throwing his stuff in his locker. He had managed to save up the required two thousand dollars, had gotten three A's on his assignments, and his dad was taking him car shopping after school. That wasn't all he was excited about however. It was finally summer break, he would be getting a car, hopefully get his dream girl, plus his cousin was coming over for the summer. Most would be annoyed at having their older cousin come live at their house for a whole summer, but not Sam, at least not when it was his favorite cousin of all time.

Bree Sage Witwicky was a spunky, caring, rather quiet, nineteen year old genius. She had graduated high school at the age of fifteen and was almost finished with her Master's Engineering Degree, with majors in English, Science, and Computer Programming. She had also taught herself to be fluent in several different languages and worked two part-time jobs. The reason Sam and her were so close however, was due to the many hardships and tragedies she had lived through. She was considered a miracle baby by her parents, who had been trying for years without conceiving, even going through different insemination procedures. However she had problems in physical development, was born prematurely, and was constantly in and out of the hospital until she was five. After she turned five, instead of the weekly hospital trips, she simply had to go once a month, and began to show off her high intelligence.

Her dad, the oldest brother of Ron Witwicky, was in the military Spec Ops, while her mom was a high-level government agent. So the medical bills weren't really a problem. When she turned seven, her parents just up and left her at her grandmother's house, who wasn't a kind grandmother, and disappeared. Sam's parents fought to gain custody of her, and won after three years. She and Sam were raised together for five years before her mother resurfaced, with the news that her dad had been killed in action. The next four years, she had taken care of her grief-stricken mother, who worked constantly on a highly classified project and was only home long enough to pass out after chatting a little while with her only child.

Her two-part-time jobs, one working at a fast-food restaurant, and one working with deaf and mute kids, paid for her bills and any school costs not paid for by the scholarships she'd managed to get. She had several bad relationships throughout her short life, just because she was intelligent to figure out different problems, didn't mean she was very good at reading other people. The latest, Jake, was a soldier who had trained under her father. He was twenty-four, good-looking, and Sam hated his guts. His younger brother, Rick, was eighteen and was a nice personable guy, Sam only wished Sage would go out with him instead. She had met Rick at her second job, he had a younger sister who was deaf, and he had introduced her to Jake.

Nevertheless, no matter how busy she was, she had always made time to come visit him every weekend, they were practically siblings with how close they felt. He even told her about things he had never told anyone or even admitted out loud. In return she had shared with him all the horrific nightmares she had as a kid in the hospital, plus the bad relationships. Now, she would be staying the whole summer with them, and she'd arrive the day after he got his new car! She'd be just as excited, he knew, since she knew more about mechanics than he and his dad put together, though she only knew basic repairs compared to real mechanics. With her by his side encouraging him, he'd be chatting and hanging out with Mikaela in no time.

- Until All Are One -

Sam grinned as he pulled into the driveway. He was too excited to notice the dark blue 2001 Pontiac Firebird parked by the curb. As he dashed into the house, mentally forgiving his dad for the cruel joke he had played on him by taking him to the Porsche dealership, he absently greeted his mom and the teen girl who was helping her with the dishes. He was halfway up the stairs before he froze and stampeded back down, whipping around the corner and flinging himself at the petite girl who had braced herself knowingly.

"BREE! BREE! BREE!" he grabbed her and twirled her around, grinning as she laughed. "I GOT A CAR! I GOT A CAR!" he squealed, still spinning her around. Her dark brown hair flew around them as she hung on for dear life, slowly settling into the short waves as he slowed and put her down. He took a moment to take in her appearance, remembering it and examining for any differences. Fluffy dark brown hair with lighter and darker highlights, all natural, with a red sheen that fell loosely to her shoulders at the longest, with shorter bits fluffed up and long bangs falling just over her warm golden-hazel eyes. A bit of eyeliner graced her face but no other makeup was visible, pink pouty lips formed a half-grin from her light golden skin. Her petite form was barely five foot two inches, and dancer-like slender. Her black t-shirt was baggy but covered and slightly accented her small curves, while her dark blue jeans covered her long legs, and her combat boots peeked out from under the denim. Her normal eclectic bracelets adorned her left wrist, all were handmade from the various kids she interacted with; while her right hand had three simple gold rings on her pointer, middle, and ring finger. Her ears were pierced several times, with small gold studs; and she wore proudly around her neck, a platinum chain with her dad's dog tags, and her platinum engagement ring. "Wow, you look good, cuz," she laughed again, the soft musical sound relaxing him.

"So do ya cuz, so tell me, what kinda piece of garbage did ya get?" she asked. Her voice was soft, warm, and comforting, clearly feminine but also full of a deep warmth. He grinned back, she was playing around with different accents again

"He's outside, wanna take a look-see, yerself?" he asked, attempting his own funky accents. As she laughed again and linked her arm with his, he couldn't think of anything better than being here at that moment. Sam kept an eye on her face, not wanting to miss the look when she saw his new car. Sure enough, as they stepped outside, her eyes immediately spotted the new addition. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened slightly before she was yanking him over to the car.

Releasing her grip on his arm, she trailed gentle fingers along the side, eyes taking in everything. She made a complete circuit around, then stopped at the hood. Giving Sam a wordless question, he grinned as he popped the hood. Crouching, she ran light fingers along the grill, easing into the space, and finding the lock. Pushing the metal sheet up, she looked down, expecting to see an old engine that needed to be overhauled. Instead, her breath caught at the shiny brand-new engine underneath. "How much did you pay for this boy?" she demanded, adjusting her grip to peer sideways at her cousin. He grinned, though he looked worried.

"Four thousand, why? Is the engine that bad?" he asked, dreading how much more he needed to save up. She snorted, her eyes glittering, and motioned him over. She propped the hood up as he made his way around, leaning over the engine precariously.

"Sam, you found your diamond in the rough, he's a treasure! This engine alone would have to be four grand by itself! It's all custom, though why they took such good care of the engine and not the frame is besides me." She muttered under her breath as she examined different parts. Sam looked beyond happy.

"So, it's good?"

"Only need to bang out those dents, a good wash, maybe a re-paint job, and definitely a good wax." She leaned back, pulled a tie out of her pocket and pulled most of her hair back into a sloppy bun. She flashed an excited grin over at him, "Go grab the Shop-Vac, a bunch of towels, Windex, paper towels, soap, sponges, and a bucket." He took off as she bent back down. Checking the different lines for leaks or blockages, she mentally began planning out the configuration of the engine. A frown formed as she noticed several components she couldn't recognize, as well as a lot of unknown systems. The engine was definitely custom-made, and she was reluctant to mess around with these unknown parts. So she simply checked to make certain they were in good working order, other than being really dirty. Once Sam had grabbed all of the stuff she had asked for, they started.

Sam was vacuuming the inside as well as cleaning the windows. Sage was cleaning the different components, as well as checking the fluids. She even moved underneath to check out the undercarriage. Once all regular maintenance checks were done, she closed the hood lightly and shifted. Pausing, she tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. Crouching down, she looked at the paint once again. Seeing the sparkle in the paint, she frowned thoughtfully as she wiped grease off her fingers.

"What's up Bree?" Sam asked, pulling the vacuum towards the garage.

"Damn, guess that re-paint is a no-go," she called, lifting the hood back up and examining the underside more carefully.

"Why?" Sam walked over, frowning as he attempted to see what the problem was.

"The paint's photo-absorbent," she replied, touching the inside receptors she had found attached to the hood. Sam leaned heavily against the bumper as she stated this, so they weren't alarmed when the car rocked back suddenly. She pointed to the hidden receptors to him, as she looked for a converter.

"What's photo-absorbent?" Sam asked, studying the sparkle in the paint.

"It absorbs light, so basically you aren't entirely fueled entirely on gas. This pretty boy was converted to use both solar energy and gasoline." She closed the hood, petting the warm metal affectionately. "Unfortunately, for you, it'll take me a while to recreate a photo-absorbent paint like this one," she tapped the hood in emphasis. "So, pretty boy, we're just gonna have to fix up the dents and give you a nice wash and wax." She patted the warm metal again as she turned to the side paneling. As Sam continued cleaning the inside, Bree pulled out her mp3 player, sticking the buds into her ears.

Sam grinned as he heard her begin to hum along; he slowed his movements to better hear her, wondering if she'd start singing. She had a nice even voice, though certainly not singer-worthy, and was able to carry a tune or sing along with others. Unfortunately that was about the only musical prowess she had. She couldn't play an instrument, couldn't read sheet music, or hit the high notes or low notes if her life depended on it. Plus, she only ever sang out loud when she was alone or with people she absolutely trusted. Sam counted himself very lucky that he and Rick were the only two she would sing around, she wouldn't even sing around Jake. As he paused to contemplate that thought, he heard the words she started singing:

"_**It's a thief in the night; To come and grab you; It can creep up inside you; And consume you; A disease of the mind; It can control you; It's too close for comfort**_."

His grin slipped slightly, but he still listened intently. She loved listening to Rhianna, but some of the songs were only reserved when she had the nightmares again. This one in particular, reminded her too clearly of how when she was younger; while in the hospital, she'd have vivid hallucinations of unearthly terror, even though some of the visions comforted her they were still terrifying to look at.

"_**Throw on your break lights; We're in the city of wonder; Ain't gonna play nice; Watch out, you might just go under; Better think twice; Your train of thought will be altered; So if you must falter, be wise**_.

"_**Your mind is in Disturbia; It's like the darkness is the light; Disturbia; Am I scaring you tonight? Your mind is in Disturbia; Ain't used to what you like; Disturbia; Disturbia.**_"

He could see the slight tensing as she sang the last word, since she'd been diagnosed when she was three with the condition. The tenseness dissipated though, singing along to music was one of few things that relaxed her, even when she was singing to something that reminded her of painful memories. She hummed along as she tapped out a dent; jerking back when with a soft pop, it popped back into place. Similarly, with the slightest of pressure, most of the dings and dents were restored with little effort from her. Frowning slightly, she shrugged as she filed the oddity into her memory.

"_**Faded pictures on the wall; It's like they talkin' to me; Disconnectin' your call; The phone don't even ring; I gotta get out; Or figure this shit out; It's too close for comfort.**_

"_**It's a thief in the night; To come and grab you; It can creep up inside you; And consume you; A disease of the mind; It can control you; I feel like a monster**_.

"_**Throw on your break lights; We're in the city of wonder; Ain't gonna play nice; Watch out, you might just go under; Better think twice; Your train of thought will be altered; So if you must falter, be wise**_.

"_**Your mind is in Disturbia; It's like the darkness is the light; Disturbia; Am I scaring you tonight? Your mind is in Disturbia; Ain't used to what you like; Disturbia; Disturbia**_."

She hummed as she checked Sam's progress, rolling her eyes as she grabbed a washcloth and scrubbed at the dirt in the seats.

"_**Release me from this curse I'm in; I've been trying to maintain; But I'm struggling; You can't go, go, go; I think I'm going to oh, oh, oh**_.

"_**Throw on your break lights; We're in the city of wonder; Ain't gonna play nice; Watch out, you might just go under; Better think twice; Your train of thought will be altered; So if you must falter, be wise**_.

"_**Your mind is in Disturbia; It's like the darkness is the light; Disturbia; Am I scaring you tonight? Your mind is in Disturbia; Ain't used to what you like; Disturbia; Disturbia.**_"

The last hums were completed as she prepared the bucket and soap. Sam grinned widely and stripped off his shirt. He grabbed the hose from her and started spraying the hot metal with the cool water. He turned just to see Sage pull her t-shirt off, revealing a black tank top, and yank her boots and socks off. Rolling her jeans up to her knees, she carefully checked that her rings, mp3 player, and bracelets were securely wrapped in her shirt before dancing over to him. She sighed in relief as her feet stepped into a puddle of water, cooling her toes from dancing across the hot asphalt.

"When'd you get that?" Sam asked, tilting his head to see the tattoo between her shoulder blades. It was an odd looking character, he'd almost mistake it for a Japanese kanji, except Sage had forced him to look at a lot of her anime and manga when they were younger; plus now that he was looking at it, only the outer circle looked like the characters. He couldn't read kanji, but he could recognize it, and the glyph didn't resemble any he knew.

"A year ago," she said simply, a smirk tilting her lips. "It wouldn't leave me alone, so I drew it and got it. Pretty cool huh?" And it was. Despite being odd, the lines and curves looked almost like writing. The "writing" formed a circle around a silver filigree rounded diamond container, which had a golden orb glowing in the center. It was stunningly beautiful, but alien.

"Huh, pretty," he said confidently. She grinned and he broke down laughing. After a kick to his side, they went on with the washing. Sage gently eased herself up on the hood, to scrub at the roof and clean out dirt from around the windshield. Sam didn't' notice anything odd due to washing the sides, but Sage could feel a slight vibration underneath her. She pretended not to notice, though was on alert. Her eyes flicked to the side, seeing the figure there before looking resolutely away. Sam didn't see what she was looking at, but saw the way she turned uncomfortably.

"Hey, Bree?" he asked gently.

"Yeah?" she rubbed off a stubborn patch of mud and sand, though she couldn't figure out how that got there.

"You've been having nightmares again," it wasn't a question, a simple statement that caused her to freeze, before returning to her cleaning. "And you're seeing things again," A sigh was her only response.

"They never stopped, you know that," she replied a few minutes later. "Their voices are also getting clearer," she stopped, frowning heavily. Sam looked up at her worriedly. She never liked to talk about the, hallucinations, for lack of a better word. She saw things, heard things, that weren't there. Yet, scarily enough, if she listened to them, they accurately predicted things, and answered questions that had been unanswered for years. When she was a child, her mom often brought her to the lab, because a lack of a babysitter and with her health issues indicated to her overprotective mom that only she could take care of her baby. Her dad was constantly away on secret missions, and was only home two months a year if that. So it really was only logical to bring her with. When she had slipped into a room she technically wasn't supposed to go into, she saw something that caused her severe nightmares and migraines, while another room actually had something that helped her get a lot better.

Since that time, she had visions of creatures, some good, some not, but all of them terrifying in their own ways. It was only recently, that she began seeing human images. Thanks to hospital visits, the doctors realized she had activated some obscure part of her brain that very few people could access. The few who could were mostly people who believed themselves to be psychic. Thanks to her mom's high connections, her medical files were sealed. She had only ever told Sam that she could still see things, not even her Uncle Ron and Aunt Judy knew.

"Sam! Sage! Dinner is almost ready!" Judy poked her head out, smiling at the two soaked teens. They called back affirmatives, watching as she went back in.

"I can't believe she still calls you that," Sam grumbled. Sage grinned.

"I like being called Sage, and besides, you're the only one I allow to call me Bree, Sammy," she teased. He blushed slightly at the reminder, when he was little, he couldn't say her full first name, Brianne, so simply called her "bwee" which then changed to "bree."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he grumbled good-naturedly. She laughed softly, relaxing into the pleasantly warm metal, and rested a cheek against the damp metal. Her eyes flicking closed, she opened them slightly when a soft buzzing sounded by her ear. Peeking up, she blinked at the sight of a fuzzy bumblebee. Reaching out, she let the gentle bee land on her hand instead of the soapy car, and slid down. Moving carefully, she gently brought the bee to Judy's flower garden, and lightly nudged it onto a flower. Seeing it buzz it's wings, she smiled happily and turned back to the car. Blinking, her mind still on the bumblebee, she giggled as she looked the Camaro over once again. Grinning widely, she hopped over to the hood, waiting until Sam looked at her warily. Placing one bare foot on the front bumper, she grinned and cackled maniacally.

"I claim him as my minion! And I shall love him and feed him and play with him all day! And his name shall be!" she pointed at the car with a grin, "Bumblebee!" and keeled over laughing as Sam smacked his face, shaking his head. As such, neither of them saw the way the Camaro trembled in amusement, or when it nudged a bit closer to the giggling girl. After a few moments of laughter, the two finished up, rinsing off the water and drying the paint with the towels. "We'll give you that wax tomorrow, okay Bumblebee?" Sage petted the hood, grinning at Sam's disgruntled look.

"He's mine you know," he muttered darkly, but only caused his cousin to laugh.

"We'll see!" she chirped, winking, "He likes me better!"

"Yeah, cause you had your hands all up in his engine,"

"Oooh! Robot sex! Kinky!" and she ran into the house, laughing at the look on his face. The two played around as they got cleaned up, the two then changed into dry and clean clothes and headed down for dinner. Sage instantly was part of the family again, despite not being with them for a while, and they laughed and joked and chatted about their lives to catch up.

Outside, Bumblebee contently enjoyed the feelings of being cleaned and cared for. He also decided to wait until tomorrow to send the signal to the others. Reviewing his memories of the two young humans, his Spark hummed with pleasure at their innocence. The young femme had him slightly worried, she seemed burdened by many hardships, like his leader, but was still able to fool around like those of her age. He couldn't repress the shudder of amusement when she aptly named his designation, or at her instant retort of kinky robot sex, if she only knew. When they met the others, no doubt her and her cousin's antics would help lift their Sparks. Taking one last scan of the area, Bumblebee allowed himself to settle for a moderate recharge, after all, he had finally found his charge.

- Until All Are One -

pages 13

Lyrics and song by Rihanna, Disturbia.

Thanks for reading!


	2. Contemplations, Arrests, and Arrivals

Summary: Sam's cousin has always been different. Despite this, she and Sam had always been close. When the Autobots come into the picture, will she allow her beloved cousin to deal with the repercussions of their arrival, or shoulder the responsibility herself? Is she strong enough to? Also, what is the connection she shares with several Decepticons? As well as the Allspark?

Warnings: I've watched the Movies, I've seen most of the episodes of Beast Wars and Beast Machines, seen some episodes of Armada and read various online stuff. I do not know most of the storylines in Generation one, but I do know most of the characters and their personalities. This will be a mix-matched version of what I do know, and probably will only make sense to me and those who have an open mind. The movies are awesome in special effects, and as I know them best, I will be using them as the starting point, but with info from other areas, such as the Ark having been crashed on Earth for a long time. I will also be royally screwing some things on PURPOSE to suit how I felt some things could have gone. In my mind this is all in a sort of ANIME-STYLE not live-action characters. Some bots and cons will be Movie style in alt mode, others will be Gen One.

Also, some terms down below I made up, the time terms for the Cybertronians are relative from what I've read about. My Cybertronian Culture Notes are mine, my view of how the Fallen's disgrace had occurred, and the surviving Prime who returned to Cybertron after that betrayal. I do not approve of plagiarizing otherwise I would happily incorporate the awesome ideas of other authors such as the Carrying Holds, the Spike and Port Interface Array, and other misc. things.

I don't remember however if I had read in someone else's story about Budding. If I did I do apologize, however the explanations below took me a long time to figure out and put into words. If the Budding Process has been used, I'll simply change the name to something else since my explanation is my own.

Terms:

**Bud Spark** – an influx of energy formed during the action of Spark Interface, not necessarily during regular interface. This bud is highly sensitive to various conditions, dissipating if not properly contained or formed. Should all conditions be met, the bud will attach itself to the stronger Spark and form into a Semi Spark.

**Semi Spark** – a half-formed spark still in the stage of development. It is still sensitive but stronger than a Bud. Unless the Bearer Spark is weakened, or outright rejects the Young Spark, it will fully mature into a Sparkling after 10 orns.

**Sparkling** – Newborn. Refers to Unborn Sparks to Young Sparks roughly a single Vorn old.

**Youngling** – Child. Refers to Young Sparks roughly from 1 vorn to 10 vorns old. Also can be used by older Cybertronians when referring to those younger than them.

**Mech Spark** – a normal spark designed to power a frame. A mech spark has a 20% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another mech spark. Should enough energy be stored and such a bud spark be formed, the bud spark will pick the Mech Spark more efficient or stronger to be it's Bearer. Mech Sparks are either blue or red.

**Femme Spark**- a rarely produced, stronger and more potent spark that utilizes energy more efficiently than a Mech Spark. A Femme Spark has a 40% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another spark, mech or femme. Femme Sparks are white, or very rarely, gold.

**Creator** – a single Cybertronian who decides to apply for a sparkling from the Allspark OR had created a Sparkling via Budding with another Cybertronian.

**Bearer** – a single Cybertronian who underwent the Budding process and was chosen to carry the Semi Spark. Only if the Semi Spark fully forms into a Sparkling can the Mature Spark be considered a Bearer Spark.

**Bearer Sparks** – sparks that had undergone the Budding Process and produced living Sparklings. After the birthing of a Sparkling, the Mature Spark is considered a Bearer Spark. Bearer Sparks become highly receptive to Spark Energies, the percentage of becoming a Bearer again increases. Mech Sparks range from- 20% to 40%. Femme Sparks range from- 40% to 80%.

**Spark Shields** – equivalent of birth control, normally only used during unsettled times of war or, in Bearer cases, to prevent Spark Exhaustion.

**Caretakers **– Cybertronians who have undergone training and received Creator programming to look after another's Sparklings and Younglings OR Cybertronians who have activated programming due to being Creators themselves, either through the Allspark or Budding.

**Cybertronian Culture Notes: **Mech and Femme frames do not mean male frames and female frames. All frames are built with an Interfacing Array, including ports and cables. Interface without Sparks will not cause Budding, but will store energy influxes to increase chances of Budding when Spark Interface is initiated.

It is perfectly normal for mechs to pair together, as well as femmes to pair together. They do not believe in homosexuality or heterosexuality defining whether a mech or femme is good or not. Because of the ratio of mechs to femmes, it is perfectly normal for mechs to be with each other. In most cases, mechs actually are normal regular interface partners.

They also are not against polygamy. Regular Interface, depending on how far they go, range from showing deep friendship, to showing strong trust, as well as showing intimate connections. Spark Interface is the most intimate form of affection, it also synchronizes the Spark patterns, to allow them to connect deeper. If Sparks are compatible, if the Cybertronians so choose, they can establish a stronger link with one or two others. Linking with compatible Sparks, is as close yet deeper than human marriage customs. Due to different frames needing certain needs, it is entirely possible that two who are Linked, still have other regular interface partners that are not their Linked. Being Linked simply means that they are closer than any others, and would be the preferred partner in Spark Interfacing.

Mech Bearers are also often times referred to as Femmes, due to the higher Budding percentage, depending on a Mech's perception this may be taken as a compliment or insult. They are not true Femmes however, since their Sparks are not as energy efficient nor as strong as True Femme Sparks.

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN MECH AND FEMME FRAMES IS THEIR SPARKS! THEY HAVE NO GENDERS!

Spark coloration is varied. Mech Sparks are usually Blue or Red, whereas Femme Sparks are normally White, or very rarely Gold. Scientists have argued since the beginning of records as to why the Sparks are varied. Only the Allspark CORE Guardians know the answer but have refused to answer or ask the Allspark for its reasons.

**Klik** – roughly 1 Earth minute.

**Breem** – roughly 8 Earth minutes.

**Joor** - roughly 7 Earth hours.

**Orn** - roughly 13 Earth days.

**Vorn** - roughly 83 Earth years.

Disclaimer: Oops, I forgot to put this in. Obviously, I don't own Transformers, else I'd have the kiddie version, and the adult version. GO KINKY ROBOT SEX! LOL Plus I'd not be broke right now. XD

- Until All Are One -

Title: A Change in Plans

Chapter Two: Contemplations, Arrests, and Arrivals.

Chapter Rating: T for a few "potty words"

- Until All Are One -

_Previously:_

Outside, Bumblebee contently enjoyed the feelings of being cleaned and cared for. He also decided to wait until tomorrow to send the signal to the others. Reviewing his memories of the two young humans, his Spark hummed with pleasure at their innocence. The young femme had him slightly worried, she seemed burdened by many hardships, like his leader, but was still able to fool around like those of her age. He couldn't repress the shudder of amusement when she aptly named his designation, or at her instant retort of kinky robot sex, if she only knew. When they met the others, no doubt her and her cousin's antics would help lift their Sparks. Taking one last scan of the area, Bumblebee allowed himself to settle for a moderate recharge, after all, he had finally found his charge.

- Until All Are One -

Bumblebee woke from his recharge to the feel of something being rubbed into his metal armor. Activating his sensors, he found the young human femme was waxing his roof. Not comprehending how she managed to climb up on top of him without rousing him, he settled and enjoyed the gentle administrations. He had instantly noticed the difference between her and his primary charge, in their touches of him. Sam was a bit rough; he had banged the vacuum against his frame several times, and wasn't too worried about placing himself anywhere to get what he wanted done. Sage on the other hand, was surprisingly gentle. She had courteously taken her boots off before climbing on him, both for his wash and now for his wax, plus was extremely delicate with handling his engine and wiring.

He had been tense when she had been exploring under his armor, but was relieved when she didn't attempt to remove the odd systems she had located but didn't recognized. When she had returned under the hood, and had identified both his receptors and solar absorbers, he wondered briefly if he should attempt to "run for it." It wasn't necessary thankfully; she had gently and thoroughly cleaned his engine and other systems, and even helped his self-repair system with the dents in his paneling. When the cool water has washed over him, he found it was soothing, the soap and soft sponges only helped him relax on his shocks. Surprisingly, their warm bodies were also comforting. His sensors had locked on the electrical impulses in their bodies, the soft electrical waves were soft, young, and energetic, exactly how the others had described to him what Sparklings felt like.

He absently ran a chemical analysis on the wax she was polishing into his hide, and was pleasantly surprised. Though not the most expensive wax, it was a highly recommended one, though it was slightly different than what the compound was supposed to be. He wondered where his primary charge was, then realized the time, and his scans indicated that Sam was still deep in recharge. In fact, the only ones in the housing unit that were awake were the two femmes. The femme creator was cleaning the clothes worn by her mate, while he had the pleasure of being waxed by the younger one. She had almost finished his waxing when Sam emerged, yawning deeply and scratching his head.

"Ain't he a pretty, pretty boy," Sage cooed, careful not to smudge the wax as she patted him. Sam grunted a greeting then plopped down in the shade by the open garage door. She rolled her eyes at him before continuing the wax treatment. As Sam slowly woke up, she finished the buffing the wax on, then double-checked under the hood. She could feel the soft vibrations again, but again, didn't mention or revealed she had noticed.

Taking a closer look at some of the odd systems, she found one that tied in with the radio, which looked sort of off to her. Wiggling her fingers around clusters of wires, she managed to see what was bothering her about that one system. Several wires were fried and crossed, thus would be sending different signals down the wrong conduits. Pulling back, she wiped her fingers on a rag then trotted over to the garage. Digging in Ron's toolbox, she pulled some flat-tip pliers and needle-nose pliers, a wire cutter, solder, and a small hand-held torch. Digging in the clutter of mostly gardening items, she managed to find some proper gauge wire that would work nicely. Mentally thanking herself for indulging in that metal jewelry making class, she prepped the tools for what she had planned.

Setting the items on the rim of the hood, she eased the wire clusters away from the damaged circuit board. Using the pliers, she separated the fried wires carefully, taking careful note of where they were supposed to go. Using the wire cutters, she scraped off as much gunk as possible, without cutting the wire. Lining up the coil of wire, she cut off a longer piece of the new wire, then soldered the ends beside the first fried wire. She felt the jerk underneath her, and barely prevented herself from cutting through both wires. Snipping the old wire off quickly, she grinned as the vibrations returned, albeit slowly. Doing this for all of the fried wires, she gently twisted the wire cluster to remain neatly coiled, then moved the other wires back down to hide the previously hidden board. "There, not too bad, now huh?" she murmured, giving the Camaro a soft pat. She looked over every system again, sometimes replacing a wire, sometimes simply rearranging the clusters into neater coils.

Bumblebee couldn't believe it, he was certain she had once again helped his self-repair system, but this time on his vocal processing component. His scans indicated it would still take a few joors, possibly an orn, before it was fully repaired, but still, it was odd how easily she seemed to comprehend his systems. He knew it was only because it was a tight and difficult place that Ratchet hadn't managed to fix it entirely. Every time he seemed to have the spare joor, some emergency popped up that needed his attention. Which made it very difficult to get the repairs completed, especially since the CMO would have to put him in stasis, and take several components out of the way to do such. In such unsettled times that would leave him helpless and defenseless if Ratchet were called away. He had his personal com link, which was perfectly acceptable to use, so it didn't really bother him.

Now, interacting with humans who don't have com links, it was slightly irritating. He wanted to talk to the two young humans, to ask questions about their world and cultures. Now, thanks to an oblivious youngling, he would be able to communicate much more freely, if they were receptive. Plus, he had to find some way to repay them for that relaxing, thorough wash and wax. He felt he looked nearly good enough to preen like Sunstreaker, who did on a joorly basis! Contemplating the front-liner, he figured the mech wouldn't mind getting some of this nice wax, though if actual humans attempted to do it for him, it would probably repulse him. His attention focused back on his charges, when Sam spoke of his plans for the day. He wanted to go to a party, to attract his hopefully-soon-to-be mate. Sage didn't particularly care, though she seemed reluctant to come when he said he'd invited his friend Miles.

"And where do you expect four people to sit at? Bumblebee can hold four but only if two are all snuggly, and I ain't hookin' up wit' Miles, Samuel James Witwicky!" she started speaking normally, but it ended in a snarl, which was surprising coming from the previously docile femme he had observed. Then again, considering she was clutching onto her promise ring, maybe human femmes were sensitive to certain things? He listened intently, finding amusement as they bickered to and fro. Absently wondering if this is how a Creator felt when their younglings were bickering over something inane. "Ya sure ain't going to be kicking me or Miles outta Bee, if that girl decides to accept a ride from you, especially since you invited us to come." She huffed, glaring icily at her cousin. "That's extremely rude ya know," Bumblebee agreed whole-heartedly with her.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Sam needled, giving her his pathetic puppy dog eyes. Unfortunately, he forgot that that look didn't work on her. Pouting, he subsided, then gave her a tight hug and kiss on the cheek for all her hard work. She waved as he slid into the driver's seat, then drove off. Sage frowned as soon as he disappeared.

"There's something odd going on," she muttered, rubbing her arms absently. Putting all the tools away, she closed the garage and headed inside. She greeted her spastic aunt with a hug, before heading up to the guest room they'd fixed up for her. Ruffling through her clothes, she picked out what she'd wear then headed into the shower. As she started to undress, she froze as she felt a hand tug on her shirt. Looking down, she bit her tongue at the sight of what appeared to be a small quadruped robot. It chattered something, small panels rising slightly, as it's deep blue eyes looked at her. Straightening its four legs slightly, it went from her chest-level to eye-level. One of its two arms reached up, one delicately three-finger clawed hand cupped her cheek tenderly, its head leaning in to touch their foreheads together. She shivered, her eyes fluttering closed, as a warm whisper echoed in her head. "You're welcome," when she reopened her eyes, the figure was gone, though a soft tingling in her forehead and cheek were left. Shaking her head, she thanked whatever great being out there, that it wasn't as terrifying as some of the robots had been. She only briefly wondered why it had thanked her, before shoving the thought to the side.

- Until All Are One -

Sage milled around the house for the rest of the day, helping out with a few household chores, even helping Ron with his path, as well as weeded the garden. It was relaxing to simply hang out with the two who had raised her, the lovable yet crazy couple they were. She purposefully didn't think about work, her mother, her grandmother, or the last few classes she needed to take. She also didn't think about her future fiancé.

Her relationship with Jake was, odd. She knew it probably wasn't as good as she would want it, but he was a good guy relatively. She found a few aspects of him disconcerting, but he promised to change, once she had actually accepted his proposal. Sam and Rick were the only two to know that they were thinking about getting engaged. Thinking, not actually engaged. Jake had sweetly decided that instead of buying her an engagement ring, he'd make one for her. Sad thing is, he didn't know how to properly do it. So he'd attempted to make the ring, only for it to be too fragile, or lopsided, or distorted, etc. Anything that could go wrong went wrong for him, plus a few other ways no one could figure out _how_ he went wrong.

After the fifth time, and his scream of frustration, Sage had taken pity on him and demanded to know what he wanted. She didn't realize it was for her, so found it extremely odd that he kept asking what she liked about it, when she looked over the few designs he'd drawn, rather poorly since he definitely was no artist. He was adamant that she love the ring, said the person he was making it for, liked a lot of things she did. So she had taken all the aspects she liked, plus added a few other things, and made the ring. A simple platinum band with a dark emerald in the center; beside the emerald on both sides were a small sapphire, a small peridot, and a tiny diamond. Two small-engraved lines of delicate leaves were inscribed on the band. When she presented the ring to him, his eyes lit up and he took it reverently. Then, to her surprise, he held it out to her.

"You don't have to accept right now, in fact I don't want your answer yet. When you've graduated college and I get into a good squad, that's when I want your answer. So please, think about being engaged to me?" that's what he'd said to her. It was the most unusual proposal she'd ever heard of, but she'd accepted the ring, and placed it on the chain with her dad's dog tags. It had become habit for her to tug on the ring when thinking seriously about something, but for some reason, she never actually thought about accepting his proposal. It was why she was purposefully not thinking about him, or the ring. Time was moving too quickly, and she wasn't ready to think about him in that way. She wasn't sure if she would ever think about him in that way. They hung out like friends, usually with his younger brother and sister, they didn't _date_. Perhaps that's why she was so confused. She wasn't sure if she loved him like that, or if at all.

Standing up, she deposited the last of the weeds into the compost pile, then brushed the dirt off her gloves and jeans. Heading inside, she decided to surf the Internet while waiting for Sam to get back. On a whim, she went to Ebay, and found to her surprise, Sam had an account. Looking at what he was selling, she promptly made a bid, grinning. He had no idea that it was her; but she was, for sure, going to raise hell because he was selling their insane grandfather's personal belongings. She checked her bank account while online, and nodded thoughtfully. She had managed to save up enough to go shopping, for her, meaning she could allow herself to buy a couple of books, or maybe go thrift store browsing. Settled on her plans for the next day, she cleaned up her room a bit, then settled down with a favorite book, only briefly wondering if Sam had managed to work up enough balls to talk to his dream girl, let alone speak coherently around her.

- Until All Are One -

When Sam returned to his house, he immediately ran into his cousin's room, and jumped onto her reclining form. She squawked, her book flying out of her hands, and immediately brought her knees up, hard. With a groan, Sam crumpled to the side, rolling over and yelping when he fell off the bed, clutching both his manly parts and his head.

"Sam?" Sage popped her head over the edge of the bed.

"What's going on up there? Are you two alright?" Judy's voice called up.

"We're good!" Sage called back.

"Speak for yourself," Sam whimpered, curling up into the fetal position. Mojo scurried in, yipped at Sam, then used him to jump up on the bed. Sage glared at the Chihuahua, she liked big dogs, not little ones she could punt over a nine-foot tall fence. Despite her dislike, she gently dropped him off her bed, then peeked at Sam again.

"You know better than to sneak up on me," she groaned, grabbing his nearest arm and yanking him up on the bed. He groaned softly but crawled back up, nearly kicking Mojo with his flailing legs. With her cousin sprawled on the bed, she flopped half on him and half on the bed, resting her head on his chest. "Sorry about little Sam," she added, teasing.

"Shut up," he hissed, but he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"So what happened with your lover girl?" she piped up after a few comfortable minutes. He immediately went on about picking her up, them talking, how Bumblebee broke down but apparently Mikaela was a mechanic too, and the odd songs the radio kept spouting. Sage frowned when she heard Bumblebee had broken down, but grinned at hearing him refer to his car by the name she'd picked. By the time he'd finished, Judy was calling them for dinner, and the two were starving. After dinner, they watched a movie before going to bed, both having plans to be up early, though Sage was planning earlier than Sam.

Sage had settled into bed, her favorite pair of pajamas on, a black tank top with a pair of black fleece pants that had x-boxes on them. Curled around the old stuffed dog she'd had since she was four, named Hound, she quickly fell asleep but it wasn't a calm sleep like last night. She had been so tired yesterday from packing and driving out here, that she had fallen instantly to a dreamless sleep. Tonight was different though. An hour after falling asleep, twisting and turning, she abruptly woke up from nightmares. Groaning softly, she grabbed Hound and the warm old comforter, and padded quietly into Sam's room. Dodging around the clutter, she poked his foot several times. Half-asleep, Sam looked at her blearily, but scooted over automatically. When they were both younger, she had constantly moved into his room during the night thanks to nightmares, it didn't bother him at all anymore. With a soft sigh, she eased into the bed, threw the blanket over them both, and tucked into his side, Hound squeezed tightly between them. Sam simply threw his arm around her shoulders and went back to snoring. She shifted twice then finally settled, the warmth driving away the cold that always came with the nightmares. It was always cold, so cold, like Artic ice.

- Until All Are One -

Sam wasn't certain what really woke him the second time, but something made his body tense and woke both him and Sage up, three hours after she'd crawled in with him. Looking at the clock indicated it was roughly one in the morning. The two cousins looked at each other blankly, but when they heard the sound of an engine start, both shared horrified looks. Both threw the blankets off, Hound went flying briefly before being caught and placed gently on the pillows, and the two grabbed some clothes. Sam threw on a pair of jeans over his boxers and his shoes, forgoing socks; Sage threw on her favorite black hoodie, and a pair of sandals. Both ran outside to see Bumblebee flying down the street. While Sam was in panic mode, muttering about his car, Sage grabbed his bike and threw it at him. She dashed inside to grab her wallet, phone, and keys, then ran to her car and started it. Sam, following Bumblebee, used his phone to tell her where they were.

Driving down several streets, she pulled up to the junkyard and locked the car, ducking under a hole in the fence and running flat-out, her phone pressed to her ear as she listened to Sam's directions. She briefly saw what appeared to be a spotlight, then heard Sam start screaming and panicking. Making out the words "giant robot" her heart froze in dread and terror, as she stumbled into visible sight of Sam's crouched form. Her eyes spotted the origin of the spotlight, and her breath caught. She could see a robotic form, no details, but the size itself was heart-stopping.

As the robot turned towards them, she heard several growling and rattling sounds. Sam yelped, and ran towards her, several guard dogs behind him. Letting out a word that caused Sam to gape at her, she grabbed his arm and began running. Her sides and chest were killing her by the time they had dashed into a warehouse, jumping up on top of some barrels to avoid the gnashing teeth and claws. As Sam tried to calm the dogs down, she was on the verge of panicking. A loud crash and Bumblebee appeared, circling and frightening off the dogs. The door opened, to reveal no one inside, but Sage's eyes were locked on a small symbol she hadn't seen before. A small robotic face embedded in the console of the steering wheel.

To Sage, everything went silent and still. The insignia appearing in her mind, colored bright red. A second insignia, featuring a sharper robotic face, colored a deep purple, appeared beside the red one. Words appeared, spinning around in her mind. The red face was surrounded by: passive, cooperation, Autobot, honesty. The purple face was surrounded by: aggressive, independent, Decepticon, cunning. Other words: alien, mechanical life forms, living, sentient, war, peace, love, hate, joy, sorrow, life, death, acceptance, regret. All the words revolved around the two. They were two sides of a coin, opposites yet connected and necessary.

"Here, take it!" Sam's panicked shout brought her back to reality, his grip on her elbow yanked her down as he threw the keys to the ground by the Camaro and ran like hell, dragging her with him. She heard a faint whining sound, but didn't look back as Sam dragged her towards the fence. She felt relief as well as dread at seeing the police car, Sam's yelling certainly got the officers' attention. Though as they pointed their guns at them, and forced them against the hood, despite Sam's explanation of a car hijacker, she felt more of the latter than the former, as well as a monster migraine as they both hit their foreheads simultaneously against the hood.

"Aunt Judy's going to kill us," she murmured, vaguely seeing Sam's shudder of agreement.

- Until All Are One -

Sage was quiet while Sam attempted to explain to the cops and his parents what had happened. The migraine she felt had only doubled, despite another officer giving her some aspirin for it. She winced every time Sam or the officer raised their voices, although she really was starting to wonder about the officer and his attitude. She kept her opinions to herself though, since unlike Sam, she was over eighteen and could be charged with breaking and entering, as well as trespassing. When the guy went off about "Mojo" being the new kind of drug, she pointed out the label that distinctly said it was for a dog named Mojo and was given by a veterinarian.

When the guy started on her, she quietly, and politely, told him that due to her sealed medical files, she couldn't ingest any medication or drugs stronger than a normal low-dose over-the-counter aspirin, or she'd immediately go into a comatose state. It was slightly over-exaggerated, but when his partner called the hospital and confirmed that she was under the medical watch list and was not to be given any sort of drugs, they subsided. Judy and Ron were not so lenient with the two. Sage had her keys taken away, while Sam's curfew dropped to nine o'clock, and they were both grounded for the unforeseeable future. The only good thing, if it was really a good thing, was that since Bumblebee was in fact missing, they were let off the hook with a very stern warning and Ron's disgusted mutterings of four thousand dollars being driven away.

Later that day, which was still early, about ten in the morning, Sage got the unusual phone call from her mom, who was in hysterics of both terror and laughter, when she found out that her daughter had been arrested. Sage, deciding not to alarm her mom with more tales of strange robotic beings, simply told her that someone had stolen Sam's car, and they went after them. Her mom was annoyed that her clean record was smudged, amused because she was finally entering the "rebellious stage" and hysterically amused that she had been arrested in her pajamas. She didn't add any punishments to her already grounding, after admitting that she had done a lot worse while in her own rebellious stage.

The two cousins simply resigned themselves to their fate, not realizing that their fate hadn't even started yet. So when the two of them heard the very familiar engine pulling into the driveway, they promptly freaked out. Sam abandoned his cousin to grab his mom's bike, his was still missing, and pedal like mad away from the house. Sage grabbed her bag, that was full of stuff she'd grabbed to entertain herself with, and ran out the door headed for the more public areas on her own bike. She thanked herself mentally for packing a day bag the previous night for her day of shopping. As the two split ways, she heard the engine that was following them, sputter, as though in confusion before it followed Sam. Riding vigorously, she made a wide circle, calling Sam to find out where he was. When he answered, she cursed at his foolishness at having driven into a parking lot under the underpass. Though she was amused when he had quickly related that he saw Mikaela. She sensed a funny story there, but currently it wasn't the best time.

When she caught up to him, she found him running towards a cop car, and rolled her eyes. She dropped her bike by his mom's, and started heading over too when she got a good look at the car. Her heart started to race, as she read the slogan written on the side: To punish and enslave. To her surprise, when Sam reached the car and banged the hood yelling, the car jumped forward, nudging him back aggressively. As she watched Sam scramble back, her eyes spotted the driver, just as it flickered into nothing, and an unearthly sound made her stop dead. It was musical, a soft hum with whirls and clicking, and for some reason, it utterly relaxed her. The relaxation dissipated once the sounds stopped and she realized why. The cop car had changed into a bipedal robot, which looked more menacing and less comforting than the one she'd seen both last night and this morning.

She was running towards Sam before she had realized that he'd uttered a short scream, as the robot threw him into a windshield. As the blades on its wrists began to spin threateningly, it leaned down and put its face close to Sam's stunned form.

"Are you username LadiesMan217?" a deep gravelly electronic voice demanded. Sage remembered the username from Ebay, as she moved carefully. Sam was obviously still reeling from landing in the windshield, since he stuttered incoherently. "Are you username LadiesMan217! Where are the glasses!" the robot slammed his fist down, crumbling part of the car Sam was on. Sam shrieked like a girl, she mentally reminded herself to tease him later, and took the opportunity. While she had been moving closer, she had felt around in her bag for the knife her dad had given to her as a kid. It was a simple pocketknife, but he had tempered the blade with a few Spec Op methods. The thin blade was very strong and very sharp. When Sam had distracted the robot with his shriek, she pounced on one leg, slid the blade under the paneling, and sliced through several wires and a few tubes.

The roar of agony and rage shook her down to her core. She ignored the large part that was screaming not to hurt anyone, instead, focusing on her own rage and overprotective nature at the blatant attack on her cousin. She felt her hands get sprayed with what looked and smelled like coolant and oil, and fought as her grip began to slip. The robot twisted and shook its leg desperately, trying to throw her off, but only made her more determined. She vaguely heard Sam yelling, and a second engine echoed farther from the one she could feel vibrating under her. A glint deeper in the leg caught her attention, her hand jerked in and sliced at the third tubing, only dealing a small cut but it was enough. Bright silver-blue liquid she didn't recognize sprayed out and hit her in her face. She automatically swallowed the bit that went into her mouth, not thinking clearly as she lost her grip. A yellow blur was her only warning before she felt herself go flying as Bumblebee knocked the robot's feet out from under it.

She flew for only a second, hitting the ground in a roll and with a yelp of surprise. Rolling to a stop, she felt Sam grab her shoulder just as a feminine scream echoed around them. The two of them looked up to see Mikaela, or who Sage guessed to be Mikaela, standing only a few feet away. Sam's grip on her shoulder yanked her upright and the two of them raced to her frozen form. Sage could hear angry sounds as well as the screeching of tires from behind, but all she could focus on was running. The two cousins grabbed the girl by her arms and yanked her away, running for their lives. They heard an engine come up behind before the familiar Camaro pulled up and slid in front of them, the door opening. When they heard the bellow of rage behind them, they quickly leaped in. Sage slumped in the backseat, Mikaela in the passenger, and Sam in the driver's seat. As the car tore away from the robot, Sage watched from the window as it folded back down into a cop car and gave chase. She wiped the remaining silvery liquid off her face as the Camaro twisted and turned with agility, attempting to lose their chaser. As Sam and Mikaela promptly began freaking out, she tried desperately not to hurl, knowing that the car they were in would most likely dump them out if she did so.

When they headed into a warehouse, she mentally groaned. Lately nothing ever seemed to go right for them when entering a warehouse or even being in the vicinity of one. Wincing at each crash and most likely new dents, Sage covered her mouth with one hand as her stomach twisted and roiled aggressively. Unfortunately for them, it seemed the cop car wasn't keen on letting them escape, since it tracked them until it began to get dark. Backing up into another area of warehouse, they momentarily lost their pursuer. The three spotted the cop car again heading past them, as the Camaro parked and turned its lights off, though it locked the doors when Mikaela and Sam looked at them. Sitting quietly, aware that they were being hunted, they were shocked when the Camaro suddenly drove forward, nearly slamming into the cop car that had started going backwards.

Skidding into an electrical power plant, the doors opened and they were gently tossed out. As soon as they had taken two steps backwards, the Camaro began unfolding. Shifting into a bipedal robot, it took a protective stance in front of them, a cannon forming out of its right arm and a mask falling down to cover bright blue eyes. Just as the cop car came roaring towards them. Transforming in motion, it used its momentum to slam into the bright yellow robot and tackled it to the side.

The three humans turned and ran, heading for some sort of cover, when the cop robot leaned back, its chest opening to let a small spindly silver robot out. With an insane cackle it lunged towards them, Sam in particular. Mikaela ran off to a shed, while Sam was knocked over by the robot. Sage picked up a rock and threw it at the little robot's head, causing it to start cursing rapidly. Sam, deciding his life was more important than his dignity, shimmied out of his jeans that the robot's claws were tangled in. Kicking out, his foot collided with the robot's head just before the jeans wrapped around its eyes. Sam scrambled to his hands and feet just as the robot threw the jeans off its eyes, to see Sage deliver a high kick to its face. Flying backwards three feet, it was too busy grabbing its face; that enabled the two cousins to run to a fence, though they didn't start climbing fast enough. Recovered, the robot lunged forward at Sam, though the sound of a saw caught all of their attention. Mikaela lunged at the robot, hacking at its neck and head. Separating the head, the body slumped and Sam viciously dropkicked the head away from them.

"Yeah, not so tough without a head, huh?" Sam growled.

"You go boxer boy," Sage rolled her eyes as he eeped in embarrassment. The three crept out to see the yellow robot toss the cop car into the power conductors; either way, it wasn't getting up anytime soon. As they climbed the hill back to the robot, it turned to look at them, powering down and folding its cannon away. Stepping lightly over to them, a soft hum echoed from its chest as it watched them come closer.

"What is it?" Mikaela breathed.

"It's a robot," Sam stated quietly, "You know, a really advanced, um, super-robot. It's gotta, you know, be Japanese," Sam stuttered, looking up in awe.

"No freaking way Sam," Sage whispered. Now that their lives weren't in danger any more, she felt her cursed curiosity come out to play. It was why she was so good at working with machines and engineering. She loved to figure out how things worked. A giant robot, her fingers just itched to explore every little nook and cranny. Mikaela hissed as the two crept closer.

"Did you not see the giant droid death match?" Sage hummed in response, ignoring the younger girl.

"Can you talk?" Sam asked, as Mikaela groaned and stepped up next to him.

"**XM Satellite Radio**…" it shifted, nodding slightly, "**Digital cable brings you**… **Columbia Broadcasting System**…"

"You talk, through the radio?"

"Thanks for stating the obvious yet again Sam," his cousin teased, looking about ready to run, Sam wasn't entirely certain it would be _away from the giant robot_, especially since she did attack the other one. A soft sound had them looking bemusedly at the yellow giant, realizing it was laughing at them.

"**Thank you, you're beautiful. You're wonderful, you're wonderful**," it clapped and pointed at the two cousins, though one eye blinked off then back on in an imitation of a wink to Sage.

"So then what happened last night?" Sage asked, remembering the bright spotlight. Sam nodded though Mikaela looked about ready to call an insane asylum.

"**Message from Starfleet, Captain**…**Throughout the inanimate vastness of space**…**Angels will rain down like visitors from heaven! Hallelujah!**" it pointed up to the sky longingly. Seeing that it wasn't watching them anymore, Mikaela stepped forward.

"What are you, like, an alien or something?" she asked. He turned, pointed at her with a nod; the soft music returned as he folded back down into a Camaro. They watched in disbelief as parts seemingly vanished from view as he compacted down.

"**Any more questions you want to ask?**" was heard as the door opened. Sage hesitated only minutely, gripping her bag, which she had somehow miraculously held onto. Moving forward, she moved to the driver's side, the door opening for her. Peering over the roof, she grinned mischievously at them.

"Opportunity of a lifetime, don't ya think?" then disappeared inside. Mikaela shook her head in denial at Sam.

"Fifty years from now, when you're looking back at your life, don't you want to be able to say you had the guts to get into the car?" he asked gently. She looked uncertain, contemplative, then gave a slight nod and headed to the open door. Sliding over, she perched semi on the middle console as Sam climbed in too. They stopped briefly to grab Mikaela's bag and Sam's pants, before they were on their way. Sage ignored the two who were chatting, before something Sam said caught her attention. "Maybe you should sit in my lap?" she hid a grin from the two.

"Why?" Mikaela rolled her eyes.

"Well, I have the only seatbelt here. You know, safety first." He looked completely innocent at the disbelieving look she sent him. Sage kept a blank face though she was starting to shake from laughter. To her surprise, the girl accepted and crawled into his lap. Sam fumbled as he pulled the seatbelt around her, clicking it into place.

"You know, that seatbelt thing was a pretty smooth move." She complimented, smiling faintly. Sage snorted, which caused them to briefly glance at her. She saw how red her cousin was becoming so didn't say anything, though she didn't hide the grin any longer.

"Thank you," he murmured weakly.

"You know what I don't understand?" she started, seemingly becoming more bold. The two looked over at her in question. "Why, if he's supposed to be, like, this super-advanced robot, does he transform back into this piece-of-crap Camaro?" she whispered. Three things happened almost instantly. Sage screamed "What did you just say?" Sam protested, protecting his newfound awesome car. And the Camaro, who was obviously listening or could obviously hear her quite clearly, slammed on the brakes and turned, throwing her and Sam out. Sage, pissed, yanked off the seatbelt and opened the door, despite a soft whine that almost deterred her. Ignoring the car horns and the asshole yelling at them, Sam yanked Mikaela to the side of the road as Sage stormed over. The Camaro swung around, closing the doors with a soft snick, and drove off a distance.

"Yeah, see, now you've pissed him off!" Sam grabbed his hair, groaning.

"Not to mention me!" Sage growled, moving right up to the taller girl and glaring her down. "He ain't no piece of crap! His outsides certainly don't match his insides!" She was just about to break her normal none-swearing language, ignoring Sam's mutterings of four thousand dollars driving away, when the revving of a powerful engine interrupted them as a brand new sleek Camaro pulled up, with the exact same coloration of Bumblebee. As he pulled over, and opened the doors, the three gaped in absolute disbelief. "Well, that answers that question," Sage chirped, settling back in the driver's seat.

A soft warble from the radio was their only warning before he took off again. As he made his way through several streets, his radio flicked on, bits of news about four meteors landing in various areas sounded. A happy sounding chirp before the radio went silent again and they pulled into an abandoned alleyway. They waited for only a few minutes, before movement alerted them to others. They slowly stepped out, watching as a Peterbilt semi, a Topkick truck, a Rescue Hummer, and a Solstice all drove in, forming a circle with them and Bumblebee in the center. Sam and Mikaela stepped forward to the semi, but Sage remained by tucked behind Bumblebee's door, even when he chirped reassuringly. The three watched as the semi began transforming, Sage shuddering at the louder and deeper musical tone.

As the leader finished his transformation, the others moved around, initiating their own transformations and Bumblebee nudged her firmly, moving far enough away to not hit her, as he started his own. The three turned in a circle, watching each perform their own transformation sequences. Once they had finished, and stepped closer, the leader moved to his hands and knees, looking at Sam with bright deep blue eyes. Sage instantly recognized the dark blue eyes, stepping behind her larger cousin and grabbing his arm. Mikaela did the same, to his other side.

"Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendent of Archibald Witwicky?" the warm and deep voice was kind, Sam instantly began to relax.

"They know your name." Mikaela whispered in awe.

"Yeah," Sam said slowly.

"My name is Optimus Prime. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron." He spoke gently.

"But you can call us Autobots for short." The other yellow bot, that was the Rescue Hummer spoke up.

"Autobots." Sam repeated, then looked over at Sage. She had squeezed his hand, gripping it tightly. He noticed just how pale she was, and how her eyes were glued to them. The way her lips were pressed so tightly that they were white. Blinking, he uttered a soft curse. "Bree, Bree, it's okay,"

"It is NOT okay," she hissed, glaring darkly at him. Only Mikaela noticed the way the Autobots shifted slightly. "I swear if they mention some sort of intergalactic war, I WILL scream!" Sam winced. He knew the scream she was referring to. When they were little, if she got terrified enough or annoyed enough, she'd threaten the "Scream of the Banshee" as they nicknamed it. She could go nearly four minutes screaming a single high-pitched note that had in fact shattered three wine glasses once. The silver Autobot seemed to sense the tension since he stepped forward.

"What's cracking little bitches?" his deep voice didn't seem to match his small size.

"My first lieutenant. Designation, Jazz." Prime introduced quickly, studying Sage intently.

"This looks like a cool place to kick it." He did an impressive twirl and landed on a junker, which accomplished his goal of causing Sage to look over, her interest peaked at his acrobatics.

"What is that? How did he learn to talk like that?" Sam asked, looking confused, as Prime stood up.

"We've learned Earth's languages through the World Wide Web." He explained. The sounds of shifting attracted their attention to the large black Autobot behind them. Turning, they saw him prep two large cannons on his arms, one glowing blue, the other glowing orange. "My weapons specialist, Ironhide." He introduced.

"You feeling lucky, punk?" he hissed out, bracing his feet and crouching closer. Sam froze, Mikaela squeaked, and Sage quickly brought her foot up behind her, yanked her sandal off, and waved it threateningly.

"Threaten Sam again and I'll rewire you into a potato gun!" and the sandal flew and smacked him in the forehead. His head jerked back, a muddy shoeprint left as the sandal fell between his feet. The look on his face was absolutely priceless, though Sage was too overwhelmed to laugh, Sam was too shocked, and Mikaela was edging away from the two of them with an alarmed look on her face. The others, however, didn't hold back. Prime and the Hummer were the only ones who weren't full-blown laughing, though the amusement in Prime's voice was clear as well as the look on the Hummer's face.

"Easy, Ironhide."

"Just kidding. I just wanted to show him my cannons." Sage blinked at the almost sulky pout she heard in his voice. She watched, as the cannons folded away and he gingerly picked up her sandal, handing it back to her courteously. "Don't throw things at me, Ratchet does it plenty enough," he grumbled.

"Don't threaten Sam, and it didn't hurt you, you great big…" Sage started, then quieted, her eyes becoming unfocused. The whisper that she could clearly hear, was inaudible to everyone else: Sparkling. Sam lightly shook her, causing her to blink away the fog. "Baby," she finished after a moment.

"Our medical officer, Ratchet." The Hummer seemingly sniffed the air, though he was eying Sage speculatively, indicating none of them had missed the pause in her scolding of Ironhide.

"Hmn, the boy's pheromone level suggests he wants to mate with the female." He announced, blinking, then added "the quiet female." He looked at Sage thoughtfully, as Sam whistled softly and both he and Mikaela blushed and avoided looking at each other. Sage giggled, leaning against her cousin, suddenly relaxing around them. The Autobots noticed and were both relieved and alarmed at how quickly her perceptions changed.

"You already know your guardian," Prime continued, motioning to the yellow Autobot, who was dancing. "Bumblebee," And Sage gasped loudly, pointed at the bot, and looked at Sam.

"I knew it! Did I guess it or what!" she grinned, stepping to the scout.

"Check on the rep, Yep, second to none," he punched the air happily, then crouched down next to Sage.

"Pardon?" Prime and the others looked so confused, as did Mikaela. Sam groaned and covered his face, shaking his head. Before he or Sage could say anything, the sound of something rewinding came from Bumblebee. Then Sage's clear voice sounded.

"I claim him as my minion! And I shall love him and feed him and play with him all day! And his name shall be! Bumblebee!" he clapped and chirped his laughter as the other Autobots chuckled. Mikaela looked at her wide-eyed.

"You actually said that to him?" she asked. Sage scratched her cheek slightly, grinning slightly.

"No, we were washing him, and I saw a bumblebee and it reminded me of his paint, so I said that, and we've been calling him that ever since?" she shrugged helplessly.

"So you're my guardian, huh?" Sam brought them back on target.

"His vocal processors were damaged in battle. I'm still working on them." Ratchet said simply, aiming a laser scan at Bumblebee's throat. Bumblebee coughed lightly, then peeked at Sage, who had frozen. She looked at him blankly, then to Sam's astonishment, began to glow bright red. "Your temperature just went up, female, are you ill?" Ratchet's observation brought the other Autobots' attention. She blinked up at Bumblebee, twisting her fingers together.

"Um, Bumblebee," he tilted his head towards her, a questioning chirp sounding. She could see, however, the mischievous glint in his eyes. Groaning, she covered her face and blurted it out, "Sorry I messed around with your internals and engine!" then she blanched. "I didn't have kinky robot sex with you, did I?" Her statement brought a moment of shocked silence before they all reacted. Jazz and Ironhide roared with laughter; Bumblebee covered his face and twittered his laugh; Ratchet yelped and began scanning Bumblebee more thoroughly; while Prime spluttered and vented a blast of hot air, seemingly choking. Once they are relatively composed themselves, Mikaela asked the question two humans were curious about and one dreaded the answer to.

"Why are you here?"

"We are here in search of the Allspark, and we must find it before Megatron does." Prime spoke solemnly. Any traces of mirth dissipated as the Autobots shifted into more serious stances. The three teens looked at each other worriedly, Sam grabbing his cousin's hand reassuringly as she tucked herself behind his arm. "Our planet was once a powerful empire, peaceful and just," he started, touching something on the side of his head. The three of them shifted, as the ground seemingly opened underneath them; a scene of what once would have been a great beauty was now only a scene of death and devastation. "Until we were betrayed by Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. All who defied them were destroyed. Our war finally consumed the planet, and the All Spark was lost to the stars. Megatron followed it to Earth. When he went to retrieve it, however, he crashed into the Artic and entered a frozen stasis." Dark blue eyes looked solemnly down at the two Witwickys. "Where your grandfather discovered him,"

"Grandpa Archie?" Sage murmured. Sam groaned softly, rubbing his eyes. As the Prime continued, Sage looked behind the leader, to see an old man looking back at her. His eyes were full of sorrow, as he mouthed the words "I'm sorry" to her. She nodded faintly, cuddling closer to Sam.

"Samuel Witwicky, you hold the key to Earth's survival," she turned her attention back at the Prime's announcement. Mikaela looked pleadingly at him.

"Please tell me, you have those glasses?"

- Until All Are One -

pages 22

Wow, 80 hits! I feel special! My reviewers, you guys are awesome, I didn't think it was as amazing as you guys thought it was, "and only the first chapter!" quote by BrittanyMichele.

The story is going to parallel with the movie so far, until the end, then it'll expand. So bear with it, I'm keeping a lot to the movie, but also changing it around too. Certain scenes will definitely remain, they're too funny, while a couple other scenes need to be tweaked.

Thanks for the reviews! As well as everyone who read it!

Iridian out! XP


	3. High on Energon and Government Agents

Summary: Sam's cousin has always been different. Despite this, she and Sam had always been close. When the Autobots come into the picture, will she allow her beloved cousin to deal with the repercussions of their arrival, or shoulder the responsibility herself? Is she strong enough to? Also, what is the connection she shares with several Decepticons? As well as the Allspark?

Warnings: I've watched the Movies, I've seen most of the episodes of Beast Wars and Beast Machines, seen some episodes of Armada and read various online stuff. I do not know most of the storylines in Generation one, but I do know most of the characters and their personalities. This will be a mix-matched version of what I do know, and probably will only make sense to me and those who have an open mind. The movies are awesome in special effects, and as I know them best, I will be using them as the starting point, but with info from other areas, such as the Ark having been crashed on Earth for a long time. I will also be royally screwing some things on PURPOSE to suit how I felt some things could have gone. In my mind this is all in a sort of ANIME-STYLE not live-action characters. Some bots and cons will be Movie style in alt mode, others will be Gen One.

Also, some terms down below I made up, the time terms for the Cybertronians are relative from what I've read about. My Cybertronian Culture Notes are mine, my view of how the Fallen's disgrace had occurred, and the surviving Prime who returned to Cybertron after that betrayal. I do not approve of plagiarizing otherwise I would happily incorporate the awesome ideas of other authors such as the Carrying Holds, the Spike and Port Interface Array, and other misc. things.

I don't remember however if I had read in someone else's story about Budding. If I did I do apologize, however the explanations below took me a long time to figure out and put into words. If the Budding Process has been used, I'll simply change the name to something else since my explanation is my own.

Terms:

**Bud Spark** – an influx of energy formed during the action of Spark Interface, not necessarily during regular interface. This bud is highly sensitive to various conditions, dissipating if not properly contained or formed. Should all conditions be met, the bud will attach itself to the stronger Spark and form into a Semi Spark.

**Semi Spark** – a half-formed spark still in the stage of development. It is still sensitive but stronger than a Bud. Unless the Bearer Spark is weakened, or outright rejects the Young Spark, it will fully mature into a Sparkling after 10 orns.

**Sparkling** – Newborn. Refers to Unborn Sparks to Young Sparks roughly a single Vorn old.

**Youngling** – Child. Refers to Young Sparks roughly from 1 vorn to 10 vorns old. Also can be used by older Cybertronians when referring to those younger than them.

**Mech Spark** – a normal spark designed to power a frame. A mech spark has a 20% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another mech spark. Should enough energy be stored and such a bud spark be formed, the bud spark will pick the Mech Spark more efficient or stronger to be it's Bearer. Mech Sparks are either blue or red.

**Femme Spark**- a rarely produced, stronger and more potent spark that utilizes energy more efficiently than a Mech Spark. A Femme Spark has a 40% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another spark, mech or femme. Femme Sparks are white, or very rarely, gold.

**Creator** – a single Cybertronian who decides to apply for a sparkling from the Allspark OR had created a Sparkling via Budding with another Cybertronian.

**Bearer** – a single Cybertronian who underwent the Budding process and was chosen to carry the Semi Spark. Only if the Semi Spark fully forms into a Sparkling can the Mature Spark be considered a Bearer Spark.

**Bearer Sparks** – sparks that had undergone the Budding Process and produced living Sparklings. After the birthing of a Sparkling, the Mature Spark is considered a Bearer Spark. Bearer Sparks become highly receptive to Spark Energies, the percentage of becoming a Bearer again increases. Mech Sparks range from- 20% to 40%. Femme Sparks range from- 40% to 80%.

**Spark Shields** – equivalent of birth control, normally only used during unsettled times of war or, in Bearer cases, to prevent Spark Exhaustion.

**Caretakers **– Cybertronians who have undergone training and received Creator programming to look after another's Sparklings and Younglings OR Cybertronians who have activated programming due to being Creators themselves, either through the Allspark or Budding.

**Cybertronian Culture Notes: **Mech and Femme frames do not mean male frames and female frames. All frames are built with an Interfacing Array, including ports and cables. Interface without Sparks will not cause Budding, but will store energy influxes to increase chances of Budding when Spark Interface is initiated.

It is perfectly normal for mechs to pair together, as well as femmes to pair together. They do not believe in homosexuality or heterosexuality defining whether a mech or femme is good or not. Because of the ratio of mechs to femmes, it is perfectly normal for mechs to be with each other. In most cases, mechs actually are normal regular interface partners.

They also are not against polygamy. Regular Interface, depending on how far they go, range from showing deep friendship, to showing strong trust, as well as showing intimate connections. Spark Interface is the most intimate form of affection, it also synchronizes the Spark patterns, to allow them to connect deeper. If Sparks are compatible, if the Cybertronians so choose, they can establish a stronger link with one or two others. Linking with compatible Sparks, is as close yet deeper than human marriage customs. Due to different frames needing certain needs, it is entirely possible that two who are Linked, still have other regular interface partners that are not their Linked. Being Linked simply means that they are closer than any others, and would be the preferred partner in Spark Interfacing.

Mech Bearers are also often times referred to as Femmes, due to the higher Budding percentage, depending on a Mech's perception this may be taken as a compliment or insult. They are not true Femmes however, since their Sparks are not as energy efficient nor as strong as True Femme Sparks.

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN MECH AND FEMME FRAMES IS THEIR SPARKS! THEY HAVE NO GENDERS!

Spark coloration is varied. Mech Sparks are usually Blue or Red, whereas Femme Sparks are normally White, or very rarely Gold. Scientists have argued since the beginning of records as to why the Sparks are varied. Only the Allspark CORE Guardians know the answer but have refused to answer or ask the Allspark for its reasons.

**Klik** – roughly 1 Earth minute.

**Breem** – roughly 8 Earth minutes.

**Joor** - roughly 7 Earth hours.

**Orn** - roughly 13 Earth days.

**Vorn** - roughly 83 Earth years.

Disclaimer: Oops, I forgot to put this in. Obviously, I don't own Transformers, else I'd have the kiddie version, and the adult version. GO KINKY ROBOT SEX! LOL Plus I'd not be broke right now. XD

Chapter Terms:

**Little Spark**: term of endearment that portrays deep affection. Usually only used from a Creator to their own Sparklings and Younglings. However, can also be used between extremely close siblings, example: an older sibling to a younger sibling.

**Darklings**: a specifically odd term used for adopted Sparklings or very young Younglings. Darkling Sparks are extremely rare, they are far more sensitive to all energy waves. If a Sparkling or Youngling show signs of being a Darkling Spark, they are immediately taken in for testing. If they are simply Sensitive and do not display true Dark Sparks, they are returned to their Creators. However, if they are true Dark Sparks, they are trained by CORE Guardians to become Voices of the Allspark. Normally, the Voices and CORE will detect if a Darkling Spark is brought out of the Matrix, and will bring the Sparkling to a Guardian to be adopted and raised. If a Sparkling is created from Budding, then found to be a Darkling Spark, they will either be raised by their Creator with training from the Voices, or will be adopted by the Voices in case the Creator denies their Sparkling.

Darkling Sparks are seen as both infected abominations as well as blessed Primus-Sent. The reason for this is because their Sparks actually have visible dark spots. With training by the Voices, the Sparklings and Younglings can hide the spots from even the most well-trained medics, using their sensitivity for various purposes that other mechs or femmes cannot mimic. Very few admit if they are Dark Sparked, usually keeping the advantages to being so, kept secret.

- Until All Are One -

Title: A Change in Plans

Chapter Three: High on Energon and Government Agents

- Until All Are One -

_Previously:_

"Samuel Witwicky, you hold the key to Earth's survival," she turned her attention back at the Prime's announcement. Mikaela looked pleadingly at him.

"Please tell me, you have those glasses?"

- Until All Are One -

The ride back to their house was rather silent. A few odd sounds came from Bumblebee's radio, but they were clearly not aimed at the three humans inside him, since the following vehicles also made minute movements and sounds as well. Sage, curled up in the backseat, was particularly silent, Sam noted worriedly. Mikaela didn't think it was odd at how still the older girl had become, then again, she did only meet her a few hours ago. When they pulled up to the alley behind the house, Sam looked at his cousin briefly, then got out.

"Okay, I'll get the glasses, you make them stay here," he ordered Mikaela. They both jumped at the snort that emerged from the backseat.

"What do we do if they don't listen?" she asked sarcastically, "Hit them with a rolled up newspaper? 'Sit boys, stay! Stay!' Or threaten to spray them with a squirt bottle?" Bumblebee shook with laughter, though the others were not so amused.

"Sam, Sam!" Mikaela hissed as the boy simply dashed to the house, not responding to his cousin's statement.

"Oh boy," Sage muttered, climbing out with Mikaela. "Tonight is going to be a bad night," Mikaela didn't comprehend her warning the way Sam would, meaning that she had a horrible sense that Bad Things were going to happen. The images that were gathering around her, and chatting up a storm only helped increase her migraine and sense of doom. Normally she'd see only three images at a time if that; but right now, she saw a whole crowd flickering into existence. Some were straying away, remaining a distance and attempting to remain part in shadow, the others were approaching the Autobots with glee. She noticed the awe and exalted expressions as they attempted to touch the Autobots, only for their features to sink through the metal. Most were blue-eyed, she realized, while the others remaining a distance, were red-eyed. Despite their distance though, she could see that they too longed to approach the Autobots.

Oddly enough, all of them were human-sized, though some looked distorted like they were supposed to be much larger. While she had contemplated the Gathering, she didn't notice the Autobots get antsy, and transform, to Mikaela's groan of frustration. She did, however, notice the foot that stepped over her carefully, as well as the images that scurried excitedly afterwards, as Prime stepped over the fence. She shared Mikaela's groan of frustration, before bolting after the Autobot leader, hearing the others transforming and following as well.

"Sam said to stay!" she hissed, running between the large Autobot's legs and causing him to pause.

"We need those glasses," he said simply, looking down at her. She scowled fiercely.

"If Aunt Judy and Uncle Ron SEE you guys, those glasses and Megatron will be the least of your worries! Aunt Judy with attempt to pulverize you with her baseball bat!" she whispered furiously. She heard the soft yips before seeing Mojo, who was sniffing at Ironhide's foot interestedly. Sprinting over, ignoring the startled looks, she grabbed the Chihuahua just before he finished lifting his leg. "No Mojo! No peeing on the robots!" she growled, racing over to the screen door and nearly punting the dog inside. She whipped around just in time to see the rest of the Autobots enter the backyard, about to destroy said yard. Remembering something Jake had mentioned about drills, and thinking that they were all military or something, she snapped out one word:

"Freeze!" and surprising, all of them did. Prime himself froze just before he stepped on the fountain Ron had painstakingly pieced together. Ironhide froze before demolishing the pathway. Bumblebee froze as he edged to the garden. Ratchet paused by the power lines. While Jazz froze from where he was crouching to peer at the garbage bins. Prime delicately placed his foot down, thankfully away from the fountain and looked at her sternly.

"We need those glasses!" he insisted.

"You're freaking us out!" she retorted, nodding as he jerked back. "It would have taken maybe ten minutes to locate them, IF you guys had stayed in your vehicle modes. Since you're running around, demolishing the yard, we're being stressed to watch you, keep a look out for Sam's parents, AND look for the glasses. If a human is under too much pressure, they're liable to miss something blatantly obvious." She explained. Prime looked thoughtful, then nodded.

"Autobots, fall back." he ordered, but kneeled before the two girls, holding his hands out. "It would be much quicker and easier if you two assisted Samuel, correct?" With a shared look, the two crawled onto his palms, holding on as he lifted them to Sam's bedroom. Sam, running around like a crazy person, groaned as they crawled in through the window.

"I said keep them in the alley!" he whispered furiously.

"They got impatient,"

"They really want those glasses," both of them shrugged. Mikaela started helping, but Sage immediately dashed to the bathroom, clutching her mouth. Sam started at hearing her start to vomit.

"Bree, you okay?" all he got was a muffled curse and groan before more vomiting. Prime's eye peered in, looking worried.

"Is the femme alright?" he asked, careful not to step in the flowerbeds underneath the window.

"I don't know," Sam muttered. "It could be from stress, or…" his eyes widened. "Bree, did you swallow any of that blue liquid that sprayed you from that bad robot guy?" Another groan before more vomiting was his answer. When Prime heard what he said, though, he snapped out something in what had to be their native language. A loud curse-sounding response before Ratchet appeared beside him, though he was stretching to peer into the window.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"Obviously, she's throwing up in the bathroom!" Sam snapped back, disappearing into said room. A few moments later, he was half dragging her back into the room. Her skin had only gotten paler, her hands were shaking, and her eyes were glazed over. He laid her down by the bed, which was thankfully by the window, and watched as several light blue flashes emerged from Ratchet's hand, which he had carefully wiggled through the window, to dance over her. His face, if possible, turned more alarmed.

"Energon, she swallowed processed Energon, how could I have not detected it before?" he muttered darkly. She groaned softly, reaching up and swatting at his hand.

"Stop, it tickles," she weakly giggled, then grabbed her head and curled up. Ratchet's features seemed even more alarmed, though his eyes were dim and looked to be reading something.

"Fascinating, her body is breaking down the Energon at a rapid rate," he muttered, placing his palm down on her side. She shivered briefly then sighed in obvious relief. Her eyes blinked open, slightly glazed but no longer in pain. "It wasn't the Energon that caused her to begin vomiting, it was stress." Ratchet spoke after a few moments. "In fact, the Energon seems to be soothing her stomach, but this is very irregular."

"Why?" Mikaela piped up, bringing a cold rag from the bathroom and settling it on her neck. Another sigh and a weak giggle was the only response form Sage. Sam, however was beginning to become alarmed.

"Energon is supposed to be poisonous and corrosive to organics, even we cannot process pure Energon." Ratchet slipped into lecture mode. "We need to filter and process it many times before its consumable by us, while humans shouldn't even be exposed to it."

"Then why is she…"

"Aw shit, Bree, are you getting high?" Sam exclaimed, just as Sage burst into a laughing fit. She wiggled out from under Ratchet's palm, despite his fingers curling to keep her pinned, and sprinted to the door. "Bree!"

"Gotta find the glasses! Gotta find the glasses! Gottafindtheglasses!" she chirped, disappearing out the door for a moment, then running back in. She began tossing clothes left and right, managed to crawl under his bed, then out the other side, and ran into his closet. Ratchet was amused to see that she managed to climb up the shelf and was digging through the boxes up there. Sam groaned and asked for patience, while Mikaela was watching in disbelief.

"And this is why she isn't allowed any kind of medicine other than low-dose aspirin, my family is insane, I know," Sam commented briefly, scratching the back of his head. "I blame Grandpa Archie,"

"Oh!NowIremember!" Sage jumped off the shelf, hitting the floor with a loud thud, and dashed to her bag. "," a quick breath, "sinceIboughtthemfromSamonEbay,andbythewaySam,ifyouneededmoney," another breath, "youcouldhaveasked,'sheirlooms!" she proudly pulled out the case, then looked at it blankly. Her eyes locked with Prime's and she breathed slowly in. "And this is proof, of what I said earlier. If a human is under too much pressure, they're liable to miss something blatantly obvious." She spoke clearly, then groaned softly. "That stuff is strong," she complained. Ratchet grumbled something, which probably wasn't child appropriate, before stepping back.

"Once we have the Allspark, I WILL be scanning her much more thoroughly, I don't understand how her body could have broken down the Energon so neatly." He announced. He stepped back again and turned. Sage watched, unable to warn him, as he turned right into the power lines. With a sizzling crack, he yelped, falling down and his sirens went off briefly. The fact that he also knocked out most of the power in the neighborhood only added to the surrealistic scene. As Prime turned to check on his medical officer, shining his lights into the room so they could see, Ironhide's head poked up from behind the fence.

"Ya alright?" he asked. Ratchet let out a soft noise, looking dazed.

"Wow, that was tingly! You so have got to try that," he groaned and fell back.

"Yeah, that looks like fun, maybe later," the weapon specialist grinned as the Hummer slowly stood up, sparks dancing across his frame.

"Sam? Sage?"

"Sammy? Sage?" the Autobots froze. Sage shushed them and pointed to the alleyway. She grabbed Mikaela and shoved her behind a pile of junk, ducking down into the closet herself.

"Sam, are you in there? How come the door's locked? You know the rules. No doors locked in my house!"

"You know he'll start counting if you don't open the door!"

"One more chance. Five..."

"Oh, dear."

"Four. It's coming off the hinges, pal."

"He's counting! Sam, just open the door."

"Three."

"Oh, my."

"Two."

"He's counting."

"Stand back."

"What's up? What's with the bat?" Sam yanked open the door to stare blankly at his parents.

"Who were you talking to?"

"I'm talking to you."

"Why are you so sweaty and filthy?"

"I'm a child. You know, I'm a teenager."

"We heard voices and noises and we thought maybe you were..."

"It doesn't matter what we thought. What was that light?"

"No, what light?"

"What?"

"There's no light, Dad! There's no light! You got two lights in your hand! That's what it is. Maybe it bounced..." he started panicking and gesturing rapidly. Mikaela glanced over to see Sage smack her palm against her forehead. Obviously, Sam did NOT do well under pressure.

"There was light under the door."

"Look, you can't... You can't just bounce into my room like that. You got to knock. You got to communicate." He gestured emphatically.

"We knocked for five minutes."

"I'm a teenager."

"We knocked."

"You didn't knock. You were screaming at me, okay?"

"No."

"This is repression, what you're doing here. You're ruining my youth, okay?"

"Oh, for Pete's sakes! You are so defensive! Were you masturbating?" both girls choked down laughter at Judy's proclamation.

"Judy." Ron stared at her.

"Was I...No, Mom." Sam looked horrified, glancing over at the closet. He knew Sage was laughing over there.

"Zip it, okay?"

"It's okay."

"No, I don't masturbate!" he exclaimed, turning bright red.

"That's not something for you to bring up. That's a father-and-son thing, okay?" Ron gestured, trying to shush his wife.

"Father-son thing." Sam agreed partly, he never actually wanted to know that much detail about his parents' personal lives.

"I mean, you don't have to call it that word if that makes you uncomfortable. You can call it Sam's happy time or..." she rolled her eyes, huffing.

"Happy time?" Sam parroted.

"...my special alone time..." she continued obliviously.

"Stop." Ron was now covering his own slight flush.

"Mom."

"Judy, stop."

"...with myself." She finished.

"Mom, you can't come in and..." Sam paused, unable to articulate.

"I'm sorry. It's just been a weird night. I've had a little bit to drink." She said dismissively.

"No, no, Dad." Sam started to protest as his dad shoved his way in.

"Yeah, well, we saw a light."

"_Oh, parents._" Prime warned over their comlinks.

"I don't know where it was, but we saw it." Mikaela heard Prime and Ratchet move away. Their movements however, were felt by all of them.

"Earthquake! It's another one! Another earthquake! Get in the doorway!" Ron practically dived into the bathroom.

"Okay!" Judy grabbed the doorframe.

"Aftershock! Aftershock! Oh, I hate these. Got to ride it out. Ride it out!"

"_Quick, hide._" Prime.

"Hey, the lights are back on."

"_Hide? What?_" Ironhide.

"_Where?_" Ratchet.

"Come on, get out of that tub." Judy tried coaxing her husband out.

"Can't you take safety seriously?" Ron grumbled.

"Good Lord, this floor is filthy, Sam." Judy wrinkled her nose. Ron headed over to the window, looking out.

"Oh, oh, man! Man. Oh. Oh, good! Look at the yard. The yard isn't destroyed. Judy? Better call the city. We got a blown transformer! Power pole's sparking all over the place! Oh, man." He looked around, not seeing Prime and Ratchet huddling against the right side of the house. Ironhide thankfully had remained in the alleyway, simply shifted back into the Topkick.

"You're kidding." Judy muttered something about rude idiots.

"_The parents are very irritating._" Ironhide drawled, listening in to the antics.

"_Yeah, yeah, yeah__**.**_" Ratchet agreed.

"_Can I take them out?_"

"_Ironhide, you know we don't harm humans. What is with you?_" Prime scolded, his servos tightening absently. Ratchet pinged his annoyance, since the Prime was currently pinning him to the side of the house with his servos nearly denting his arm panelings.

"_Well, I'm just saying we could. It's an option._" They could hear the pout and shrug in his voice.

"We heard you talking to somebody, Sam. We wanna know who." Judy continued stubbornly.

"Mom, I told..." Sam started. Mikaela, having enough, stood up, coughing delicately.

"Hi. I'm Mikaela. I'm a... I'm a friend of Sam's."

"Gosh, you're gorgeous. Isn't that the prettiest girl?" Judy exclaimed.

"She can hear you talking, Mom." Sam murmured, seeing Sage also stand up.

"Thank you." Mikaela blushed.

"Oh, my goodness. I'm sorry you had to hear our little family discussion about..." Judy started.

"Yeah, Sam," Sage drawled, startling her aunt and uncle to whipping around. "Your "Happy Time" is very important to us after all," she grinned mischievously. He growled and swatted at her.

"Sorry that we're bugging you." Ron tugged his wife away, after giving Sam encouraging gestures. The two adults left, allowing Sage to collapse in giggles.

"Really," Sam growled at her, "you HAD to bring that up! God, I can't believe they'd bring THAT up!" he complained. Mikaela covered her smile, though she wouldn't look at him. Finally controlling her giggling, Sage sobered, her eyes locking with red ones. The image of a spike-covered Cybertronian stood in the corner. Her dark red eyes looked at her impatiently.

'They need to leave, or the Youngling will be caught,' the whisper she repeated, slowly stopped fading in and out. She hated that she could never hear what they were saying properly. Comprehending what she was trying to warn her about, she yanked the glasses out and nearly flung herself out the window. She turned her head at the glimpse of bright colors only to blink in surprise. Prime had Ratchet in what appeared to be a rather, interesting position. Unable to stop the quip, she could only watch in amusement as the other Autobots laughed uproariously.

"Should I come back later?" she teased. The two separated, scowling at her impishness. Prime stepped back to the window, looking at her sternly.

"We need the…" and stopped when she interrupted him by holding the item out for him.

"Listen," the serious note in her voice caught his attention. "Something REALLY bad is going to happen. I'll take care of my family and Mikaela, you guys deal with the Cube and Megatron." She stated. A puzzled look graced her soft features for a moment and she turned to look at her right, then turned back. "No matter what happens, DON'T follow us. Don't come after us. The government would love to capture you and dissect you guys. AND THAT INCLUDES YOU BUMBLEBEE!" she hollered. Angry revving answered her. "I KNOW we'll see each other again," she whispered, looking back at the leader. "I know that Megatron's going to break free," the tensing in the two was obvious, "deal with him and we'll deal with the asshole government agents coming up the street. Now GO!" she hissed.

The image rested its servo on her shoulder, warning her about the incoming agents, how they'll answer questions, and how they'll need to warn the Secretary of Defense. Prime looked at her silently, his eyes showed his understanding, not allowing his slight confusion to deter his decision. She had spoken like a leader, splitting the troops to accomplish different tasks. Yet the warning in her voice, the fear beginning to settle in her eyes, revealed that they might lose dear friends. He didn't question how she knew; the Matrix in his chassis hummed in agreement, the warning in particular. It was the warning he'd felt before, right before he lost a dear comrade, and that day Megatron turned traitor.

"Take care, Little Spark," he whispered the endearment without realizing it. The surprise pinging from the others made him realize what he'd said, but it felt right. From the moment his optics had settled on the small femme, SOMETHING had screamed at his spark, a connection not to him, but to one close to him. Even her odd moments, everything she did or said was tinged with a familiarity he couldn't recognize.

"Take care, Orion," she whispered back, her eyes flashing with something, before she turned and dragged the other two down the stairs.

He didn't hesitate, didn't wonder how she knew his previous designation, since it was obvious she knew things about him just as he knew things about her, quirks that they could only have known about by being connected in some way. He suspected the Matrix somehow. The others seemingly didn't hear what she had said, so he simply ordered them to move out. Bumblebee warbled a protest, but he was silenced quickly.

"_We will see them again, the Matrix says so._" He said firmly, "_They must do their part, I suspect to warn their government of Megatron's soldiers, and we must do ours. Locate the Allspark, and keep it from Megatron. We must focus on that objective. Besides, if Sage willingly stood up against Barricade in her defense of Samuel, humans shouldn't be too much of a problem._" He seemed confident, but he carefully kept his own worry at bay. They carefully avoided the line of black SUVs that roared down the street, heading to the house they had previously been.

"_Don't mean we can't worry bout the Sparklings,_" Jazz spoke up. The others agreed, even Prime, but none of them questioned the Matrix.

- Until All Are One -

Sage silently sighed in relief when the Cybertronian nodded after several minutes, indicating that the Autobots had indeed left. Instead of dissipating, she followed her down the stairs, speaking softly in what she guessed to be her native tongue. Sage didn't question why she knew without any hesitation that the bot before her was female. While the spiky appearance first alarmed her, she quickly realized that they were simply sensors, and were "fluffed" out at the stress of the situation. As everyone started to calm down, she noted that the armor smoothed out, forming a humanoid/insect cross that was surprisingly beautiful and appealing.

In fact, the femme looked more human-like than the Autobots, having a very smooth human-like face when it wasn't covered with a fanged battle-mask. Silver and matte black were her main coloration, although Cybertronian gyphs were engraved into every surface of her form and shone like diamonds in the light. Her form was slender and lean; her armor painstakingly carved to fit perfectly together, though her cat-like legs threw her appearance off slightly. They were both "muscled" yet slender, built for speed as well as climbing and jumping. Three pointed claws faced forward, while a forth claw was set on her heel, which would allow her to perch more like a bird if she so chose.

A knock on the door interrupted Sage's examination of the femme, who was growling softly at the door now. Whoever was there, had obviously pissed the alien off badly. She watched as Ron opened the door, looking out the window when her aunt exclaimed about people digging up her rosebushes. She grabbed Sam's hand squeezing reassuringly, then grabbed Mikaela's hand as well. Surprisingly, the girl squeezed her hand back, looking around in confusion.

"Ronald Wickity?" the agent at the door asked.

"It's Witwicky. Who are you?" Ron demanded.

"We're the government. Sector Seven." The agent flashed a badge that was blocked from sight of the three teens. Sage looked up at the name though. She knew that name from somewhere, but couldn't quite remember.

"Never heard of it." He replied, starting to look uneasy.

"Never will. Your son's the great-grandson of Captain Archibald Wickity, is he not?" the agent seemingly dismissed him.

"It's Witwicky." Ron corrected, getting annoyed.

"May I enter the premises, sir?" he asked, stepping into the shorter man's personal space.

"Ron, there's guys all over the front yard." Judy called out, looking around wildly.

"What the heck is going on here?" Ron demanded again, peering over the agent's shoulder at the group of men running around.

"Your son filed a stolen car report last night. We think it's involved in a national security matter." The first agent stated calmly, looking around absently, not seeing the teens at the stairs.

"They're ripping up my rose bushes!" Judy screamed indignantly.

"National security?" Ron's mouth dropped.

"That's right. National security."

"My God, Ron, they're everywhere. There's guys in suits all around the house! Look at this!"

"Could you stay off the grass?" he hollered, recovering.

"Get me a sample and some isotope readings." The agent ordered.

"They're pulling bushes out of the ground! Good Lord! They've got to get their hands off my bush!" Judy grabbed her bat and started to the door. The agent grabbed the bat, not allowing her past.

"Drop the bat, ma'am." He ordered as he ripped it out of her hands.

"Hey, hey, hey, that's my..." Ron protested.

"I'm carrying a loaded weapon." He flashed his gun at her smugly.

"But you'd better get those guys out of my garden or I am gonna beat the crap out of them!" she yelled. He whipped a small light out, shining it into her eyes.

"Are you experiencing any flu-like symptoms? Aching joints? Fever?"

"No!"

"What is this?" Sam finally spoke up. The agent's eyes immediately locked on him, though he did note the two girls absently.

"How you doing, son? Is your name Sam?" he asked cheerfully.

"Yeah." Sam confirmed warily.

"Well, I need you to come with us." He started to move towards them but was blocked by Ron.

"Whoa, way out of line."

"Sir, I am asking politely. Back off." He ordered superiorly.

"You're not taking my son." Ron protested.

"Really? You gonna try to get rough with us?" he asked snidely.

"No, but I'm gonna call the cops because there's something fishy going on around here."

"Yeah. There's something a little fishy about you, your son, your little Taco Bell dog and this whole operation you got going on here."

"What operation?" Ron asked, confused.

"That is what we are gonna find out." Another stepped up to talk to the first agent. He seemingly tried to whisper, but everyone heard his excited voice.

"I think direct contact." The agent whipped his head to look at Sam closely, taking a device from the other man.

"Son?"

"Yeah."

"Step forward, please."

"Just stand?" Sam warily watched as he waved the reader over him.

"Fourteen rads." He stated gleefully, then gaped. He turned to Sage, holding the device to her. It shrieked, the pin unable to wave, seemingly stuck to the one side. His eyes rose to look at her closely, a look that made her cringe inside appearing on his face. "Bingo! Tag them and bag them!" The teens were grabbed, despite protests, and separated from the adults.

"If you hurt my dog, I'll kick your ass!" Judy screamed at one agent who was carefully standing five feet from Mojo.

"Get me a sample on that vegetation ASAP!"

"Sam! Sage! Do not say anything, Sam!" Ron screamed.

"Yeah."

"Not a word until we get a lawyer!" the adults were shoved into one car as the three teens were squished into the back of another, Mikaela pressed to the window, Sam in the middle, and Sage in the other window seat. Once they were moving, the agent, who introduced himself as Simmons, turned to look at them.

"So, LadiesMan217. That is your eBay username, right?"

"Yeah, but, you know, it was a typo and I ran with it."

"Last night at the station, you told the officer your car transformed. Enlighten me." He smirked.

"Well, here's what I said, okay? 'Cause this is a total misunderstanding that my car had been stolen..." Sam started to babble.

"Really?" Simmons looked unimpressed.

"...from me, from my home, but it's fine now because it's back! It came back!" he continued.

"Well, not by itself." Mikaela added, glaring at Sam.

"Well, no." he admitted.

"Because cars don't do that because that would be crazy." Mikaela laughed. Sam and Simmons laughed too.

"That's funny. That is so funny." He stopped laughing abruptly, turning serious, "So what do you kids know about aliens, huh?" the two shared a glance.

"Oh, you mean, like a Martian? Like what, E. T? No." Sam denied.

"It's an urban legend." Mikaela said confidently.

"Yeah." Sam agreed. Simmons nodded thoughtfully, then pulled his badge back out. Sage focused on the badge immediately, it was right on the tip of her tongue…

"You see this? This is an I-can-do-whatever-I-want and-get-away-with-it badge." He snarled superiorly.

"Right." Sam gulped.

"I'm gonna lock you up forever." Simmons threatened.

"Oh, God. You know what? Don't listen to him. He's just pissy 'cause he's got to get back to guarding the mall." Mikaela burst, glaring at the older man. Simmons scowled at her, pointing his finger in her face.

"You, in the training bra, do not test me. Especially with your daddy's parole coming up." He stated threateningly. Sage blinked, looking at the other girl in surprise.

"What? Parole?" Sam was more vocal in his confusion.

"It's nothing." Mikaela dismissed.

"Oh, grand theft auto, that ain't nothing?" Simmons said gleefully, noticing Sam's ignorance. Mikaela bit her lip, then looked at Sam.

"You know those cars my dad used to teach me to fix? Well, they... They weren't always his." She admitted softly.

"You stole cars?"

"Well, we couldn't always afford a babysitter, so sometimes he had to take me along." She shrugged, looking away form his incredulous look.

"She's got her own juvie record to prove it! She's a criminal. Criminals are hot." Sage snorted in disgust, earning herself a look form him. "That'd be a real shame if he had to rot in jail the rest of his natural life." He added on, then looked particularly fierce, "It is time to talk!" he demanded. Sage's eyes blinked, then she growled loudly. Everyone looked at her in shock.

"Fuck you, Reginald Simmons, and your do-what-you-want-and-get-away-with-it-badge." She snarled, her eyes glinting red. She leaned her face close to his, "Take us to Megatron and the Cube, then we'll talk!" she leaned back, enjoying the fear and shock that briefly crossed his face. Her cousin and Mikaela looked at her in wonder and disbelief. The two agents remained quiet as they continued the drive. Sage felt both her as well as the femme's, ShadowFlight, relief when the Autobots didn't appear. She leaned back into the seat, lowering her head down. She felt so tired all of a sudden, and leaned against Sam's side, passing out seconds later.

- Until All Are One -

Sage abruptly awoke when they stopped, the two agents getting out of the car and undoing the handcuffs. They were ushered into a helicoptor, where they saw a few other people. Sage curled into her cousin as much as she could, resting in a half-awake state. Her lips twitched in amusement at the rather short conversation.

"So...What'd they get you for?" the pretty Australian woman asked awkwardly. Sam coughed lightly, looking nervous.

"I bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot." He shrugged with a weak grin.

"Wow." The black guy beside the Australian woman gaped in awe.

"Who knew?" Sam shrugged again.

- Until All Are One -

When they landed at the Hoover Dam, Sage bit her lip to remain quiet. She finally remembered where she heard that name. She barely retained the urge to launch herself at Simmons; she felt that she'd get her chance for revenge in a little bit, when he cheerfully greeted them. He was attempting to be nice and bribe them into telling him their own information, but to completely ignore the threats he'd made previously? Uh no, bad idea.

"Hey kid," he greeted Sam, acting like they were buddies. "We got off to a bad start, huh? You must be hungry? You want a Latte? HoHo? Double venti macchiato?" Sam wasn't deterred.

"Where're my parents?"

"Son, I need you to listen to me very carefully. People can die here. We need to know everything you know. We need to know it now." Another man, who called himself Tom Banacheck, spoke seriously to Sam, though his eyes kept flickering to Sage. Obviously, Simmons had briefed him about her oddness.

"Okay, but first, I want my parents, Mikaela's juvie record. That's got to be gone. Like, forever. Also, I want an apology to Sage, Mikaela and myself, from Simmons, before we give him a nice black eye," Sam had thought heavily on what to do, while on the ride over. He felt pretty confident with his list of demands.

"Come with me. We'll talk on the way,"

"Thank you," Sam said politely.

"The man's an extortionist," Simmons muttered, turning to find Sage was watching him with a malicious smirk.

"You have NO idea," she spoke softly, evilly.

- Until All Are One -

"Alright, here's the situation. You've all had direct contact with the NBEs." Simmons spoke loudly, leading the teens, a group of soldiers, and the Secretary of Defense himself, along a concrete walkway towards an underground hangar.

"NBEs?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Non-Biological Extraterrestrials." Everyone turned to look at Sage, who simply picked at her nails. She looked up at Simmons and grinned fiercely.

"How did you know…" Simmons started but was interrupted by a cell phone ringing. Sage pulled out her phone, answering it bemusedly.

"Mom, you would not believe what the hell is goin' on! Sam and I were kidnapped by Sector Seven government agents, and an asshole named Simmons, and they're bringing us to see this Cube thing and a frozen alien robotic organism… Hey!" Simmons grabbed her phone, shutting it off and tucking it into his pocket.

"Sector Seven is a highly classified government research facility. Yo Mama, isn't someone who you can blab to about us!" he scolded, leading them into the hangar. "What you're about to see is totally classified," He enjoyed the looks when they spotted the frozen Megatron. Sage froze, her eyes widening as she ducked behind Sam. Unlike the others, who were only scared of his looks, she could feel his attention immediately lock on the group, her in particular. Her heart pulsed, she clearly remembered now, that it was _him_ who gave her nightmares most night. She also couldn't deny, the fact that she could feel him reaching out to her, could hear his voice in her mind. She realized with growing horror, that he was perfectly aware of his surrounding, that he felt every scan, every hack, not to mention felt himself being dissected. It was no wonder he hated the human race with such passion and absoluteness. He'd undergone torture, plain and simple, at the hands of humans for over fifty years.

"Dear God, what is this?"

"We think when he made is approach over the north pole, our gravitational field screwed up his telemetry. He crashed into the ice, probably a few thousand years ago. We shipped him here to this facility in 1934."

"We call him NBE One," Simmons stated proudly. At the name, Sage trembled at the rage she felt from him. She ignored as Sam attempted to correct him, to tell them all about the Decepticons.

'My Little Spark,' his voice whispered, soothing yet coldly wicked. 'How I've missed you, my Little Spark,' his glee at her presence, his expectations of her.

"You guys know where it is, don't you?" Sam's voice broke through her trance. She blinked and looked up, spotting the woman moving towards them first.

"Follow me," Banacheck turned, then stopped abruptly. "Ah, Professor Blake," he greeted the woman. Turning back to the others, he waved to the woman. "This is Professor Mallory Blake, she's the Head of Research on the Cube. She's attempting to decipher and study the glyphs on both NBE One here as well as the Cube itself."

"Ah, Mallory," Simmons greeted warmly. "I'm glad to see you well, it's been awhile." The woman finally reached them, pausing to look over the group, though she was scowling heavily at Simmons, who seemed taken-back. Her dark red hair was pulled back into a bun, clips kept her bangs away from her rich green eyes that peered out from a delicate face. She reached five foot eight, dressed in black pants, sensible flat black shoes, and a pretty purple top, with her white lab coat open over her outfit. Hanging from her neck was her ID and clearance badges. She put her hands on her hips, looking at Simmons darkly.

"Simmons," she growled out, watching as he took a step back.

"Hi Mom!" a cheerful chirp before Sage dodged around Simmons and hugged the woman tightly.

"Sweetie, my darkling, are you okay?" she cooed, using her odd nickname for her only daughter. She looked up, tutting, and beckoned Sam over, who did. He hugged her back, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Aunt Mal," he said happily. Her attention turned back to Simmons, turning from motherly warmth and comfort, to ice cold stern.

"Reginald, what _the hell were you thinking! Bringing my babies here!_" Sage's mom never raised her voice when she was angry; instead her voice became softer and deadlier. Sage had the same habit, but only when she was really angry.

"Mallory, I didn't know," he stuttered, looking at Sage with a wide-eyed look.

"Professor Blake, I wasn't aware you were related to the Witwicky family," Banacheck attempted to defuse the situation.

"Blake is my maiden name," she confirmed, "I didn't bother changing it when I got married, especially since most knew me as Blake, and all my Masters and certificates are in my maiden name."

"Mom, you knew," Sage pulled away abruptly, her eyes widening. "I told you about those hallucinations, about the Cybertronians talking to me ever since I was little!" the agents jerked back. "You always denied…"

"No I didn't," she interrupted sharply. Her green eyes locked with her daughter's. "Your father kept telling you all that nonsense, that they didn't exist. I never lied to you. If you can remember, I told you that I would talk to you when you were older." Her lips pursed thoughtfully. "So, how many are here?" once again, her appraisal of the situation startled all of them.

"The Autobots, the good guys, there's five of them." Sage nodded thoughtfully, though she still looked betrayed. "The Decepticons, who are looking for Megatron and the Cube, we know of at least four," she frowned slightly. Her mother looked at her sharply.

"Ask them how many Decepticons are here, I know you can, and I know they'll tell you," she retorted. Sage felt her hackles rise, she could feel Megatron listening in, could feel him become focused more on her. She also could feel the indignant feelings swirling from ShadowFlight, who had followed her all the way.

'Tell your Creator,' the femme urged, despite her dislike of the tone. 'Starscream is disguised as an F-22, Barricade as a Cop Saleen Mustang, Demolisher is an army tank, Frenzy as a cellphone, Blackout is the Black Hawk Helicopter that attacked Qatar, Scorponak is the scorpion drone that also attacked Qatar, and Bonecrusher is a Military-grade construction vehicle called a Buffalo, I believe.' Sage blinked, looking over at the femme who was beside her.

"Frenzy's dead," she spoke sharply, ignoring the looks she was getting for speaking into thin air. "Mikaela cut off his head, and Sam punted it somewhere. Barricade's down too, Bee took him out in Tranquility at that electric substation."

'They are still alive, Little Spark,' ShadowFlight countered, 'I would know, considering I AM dead,' Sage blinked.

"You're dead?" she squeaked.

'Yes, the others aren't, but I am. The others are sparks who may be born in the future.'

"Oh great, I have dead robot chicks talking to me in my head," she groaned aloud.

'I am not a chick, I am a Prime,'

"Sorry, I meant Prime, I have dead Primes talking to me," Sage grabbed her hair, tugging on the strands. She glared with one eye at the femme. "You aren't the only one to call themselves Primes, does that mean they were dead too?"

'If they had a more insectile appearance, then yes, that is the older frames we had when Cybertron was young.'

"Ah, lovely,"

"Sage, my darkling, please stop talking to your friend and answer my question." Sage whipped around to look at her mom.

"Sorry, the Lady Prime said that there's an F-22; a little cell-phone bot, who's the one who attacked Air Force One. Really, they attacked Air Force One? Anyway, a Saleen Mustang Cop Car, military-grade Buffalo? A Black Hawk helicopter that attacked in Qatar, as well as a scorpion-shaped drone that also attacked in Qatar." She listed, not seeing the looks shared between the soldiers. She frowned suddenly, looking over at ShadowFlight. "By the way, how do you know about Frenzy?"

'He took on Mikaela's phone as a disguise, and escaped when you were brought here.' The look of horror spreading on her face alarmed everyone.

"That spaz bot is HERE! Oh god, he's going to free Megatron!" she was abruptly aware at the glee and excitement that formed. "Oh shut the hell up you overgrown popsicle!" she snapped, shaking her fist at him. She turned to her mom, desperation appearing now. "We need to move the Cube, to get it away from here!"

"Now wait one minute!" Simmons snapped. "You expect us to believe that you can talk to these dead robots, and then start…"

"Yes, I do," the statement came not from Sage, but from Captain Lennox. The Captain glared icily at the agent, his soldiers standing resolutely behind him, until he backed down.

"Sage isn't human," Professor Blake announced. All movement stopped, Sage sunk to the floor as she stared at her mom. "I was barren, I couldn't have children, I had cancer that completely destroyed my uterus. While working on the Cube, I was exposed several times to its energy waves, and found myself four months pregnant before I realized I was. The radiation from the Cube is the only reason I had you," she gently cupped her daughter's cheeks.

"I dreamed a lot, while you were growing. It was an extremely hard pregnancy, but I dreamed of the Cube and its soft whispering. You were born two months early, had many problems, but you got better once I brought a sample of the Cube to the hospital. A sliver of the Cube that broke off when I sobbed beneath it, about losing you, one night. Two weeks later, you had fully developed and could be taken home. I brought you in to work, the radiation helped you, no doubt about it, and since you were so young, you wouldn't remember. You needed metal supplements as you grew older, because you weren't human. You weren't fully developed, despite what many thought, because your frame was still weak. My darkling, you're a Cybertronian, right now, you're wearing an organic disguise, you can't access your true frame because I didn't give you enough copper and iron, and other metals."

"Mom, just stop!" Sage covered her ears. "We need to move the Cube, anything else, is nothing right now."

"I know, but they need to know this too. You have always been right about them. You helped me decipher several of their words and phrases, you mentioned a war between two factions of them. All of your nightmares and dreams, were spoken of in the words on the Cube." Mallory Blake Witwicky looked at her daughter, seeing the pain she'd caused and sighed. She beckoned them to follow her. "Moving it might be difficult though," she led them into the hangar, nodding as they stared up at the massive surface of one side of the cube.

"Sage," Mikaela looked at her pleadingly. "Any ideas from your friends?"

- Until All Are One -

In the movie they said that the tank is Devastater, EXCEPT that that is the Gestalt name of the six Constructicons, so I'm changing it a bit. XP

Thanks for the new reviews, I was gonna wait, but well, BrittanyMichele, I love you! ;) You're awesome. I dedicate this story to you.

pages 26


	4. Sparklings and Mission City Part One

Summary: Sam's cousin has always been different. Despite this, she and Sam had always been close. When the Autobots come into the picture, will she allow her beloved cousin to deal with the repercussions of their arrival, or shoulder the responsibility herself? Is she strong enough to? Also, what is the connection she shares with several Decepticons? As well as the Allspark?

Warnings: I've watched the Movies, I've seen most of the episodes of Beast Wars and Beast Machines, seen some episodes of Armada and read various online stuff. I do not know most of the storylines in Generation one, but I do know most of the characters and their personalities. This will be a mix-matched version of what I do know, and probably will only make sense to me and those who have an open mind. The movies are awesome in special effects, and as I know them best, I will be using them as the starting point, but with info from other areas, such as the Ark having been crashed on Earth for a long time. I will also be royally screwing some things on PURPOSE to suit how I felt some things could have gone. In my mind this is all in a sort of ANIME-STYLE not live-action characters. Some bots and cons will be Movie style in alt mode, others will be Gen One.

Also, some terms down below I made up, the time terms for the Cybertronians are relative from what I've read about. My Cybertronian Culture Notes are mine, my view of how the Fallen's disgrace had occurred, and the surviving Prime who returned to Cybertron after that betrayal. I do not approve of plagiarizing otherwise I would happily incorporate the awesome ideas of other authors such as the Carrying Holds, the Spike and Port Interface Array, and other misc. things.

I don't remember however if I had read in someone else's story about Budding. If I did I do apologize, however the explanations below took me a long time to figure out and put into words. If the Budding Process has been used, I'll simply change the name to something else since my explanation is my own.

Terms:

**Bud Spark** – an influx of energy formed during the action of Spark Interface, not necessarily during regular interface. This bud is highly sensitive to various conditions, dissipating if not properly contained or formed. Should all conditions be met, the bud will attach itself to the stronger Spark and form into a Semi Spark.

**Semi Spark** – a half-formed spark still in the stage of development. It is still sensitive but stronger than a Bud. Unless the Bearer Spark is weakened, or outright rejects the Young Spark, it will fully mature into a Sparkling after 10 orns.

**Sparkling** – Newborn. Refers to Unborn Sparks to Young Sparks roughly a single Vorn old.

**Youngling** – Child. Refers to Young Sparks roughly from 1 vorn to 10 vorns old. Also can be used by older Cybertronians when referring to those younger than them.

**Mech Spark** – a normal spark designed to power a frame. A mech spark has a 20% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another mech spark. Should enough energy be stored and such a bud spark be formed, the bud spark will pick the Mech Spark more efficient or stronger to be it's Bearer. Mech Sparks are either blue or red.

**Femme Spark**- a rarely produced, stronger and more potent spark that utilizes energy more efficiently than a Mech Spark. A Femme Spark has a 40% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another spark, mech or femme. Femme Sparks are white, or very rarely, gold.

**Creator** – a single Cybertronian who decides to apply for a sparkling from the Allspark OR had created a Sparkling via Budding with another Cybertronian.

**Bearer** – a single Cybertronian who underwent the Budding process and was chosen to carry the Semi Spark. Only if the Semi Spark fully forms into a Sparkling can the Mature Spark be considered a Bearer Spark.

**Bearer Sparks** – sparks that had undergone the Budding Process and produced living Sparklings. After the birthing of a Sparkling, the Mature Spark is considered a Bearer Spark. Bearer Sparks become highly receptive to Spark Energies, the percentage of becoming a Bearer again increases. Mech Sparks range from- 20% to 40%. Femme Sparks range from - 40% to 80%.

**Spark Shields** – equivalent of birth control, normally only used during unsettled times of war or, in Bearer cases, to prevent Spark Exhaustion.

**Caretakers **– Cybertronians who have undergone training and received Creator programming to look after another's Sparklings and Younglings OR Cybertronians who have activated programming due to being Creators themselves, either through the Allspark or Budding.

**Cybertronian Culture Notes: **Mech and Femme frames do not mean male frames and female frames. All frames are built with an Interfacing Array, including ports and cables. Interface without Sparks will not cause Budding, but will store energy influxes to increase chances of Budding when Spark Interface is initiated.

It is perfectly normal for mechs to pair together, as well as femmes to pair together. They do not believe in homosexuality or heterosexuality defining whether a mech or femme is good or not. Because of the ratio of mechs to femmes, it is perfectly normal for mechs to be with each other. In most cases, mechs actually are normal regular interface partners.

They also are not against polygamy. Regular Interface, depending on how far they go, range from showing deep friendship, to showing strong trust, as well as showing intimate connections. Spark Interface is the most intimate form of affection, it also synchronizes the Spark patterns, to allow them to connect deeper. If Sparks are compatible, if the Cybertronians so choose, they can establish a stronger link with one or two others. Linking with compatible Sparks, is as close yet deeper than human marriage customs. Due to different frames needing certain needs, it is entirely possible that two who are Linked, still have other regular interface partners that are not their Linked. Being Linked simply means that they are closer than any others, and would be the preferred partner in Spark Interfacing.

Mech Bearers are also often times referred to as Femmes, due to the higher Budding percentage, depending on a Mech's perception this may be taken as a compliment or insult. They are not true Femmes however, since their Sparks are not as energy efficient nor as strong as True Femme Sparks.

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN MECH AND FEMME FRAMES IS THEIR SPARKS! THEY HAVE NO GENDERS!

Spark coloration is varied. Mech Sparks are usually Blue or Red, whereas Femme Sparks are normally White, or very rarely Gold. Scientists have argued since the beginning of records as to why the Sparks are varied. Only the Allspark CORE Guardians know the answer but have refused to answer or ask the Allspark for its reasons.

**Klik** – roughly 1 Earth minute.

**Breem** – roughly 8 Earth minutes.

**Joor** - roughly 7 Earth hours.

**Orn** - roughly 13 Earth days.

**Vorn** - roughly 83 Earth years.

Disclaimer: Oops, I forgot to put this in. Obviously, I don't own Transformers, else I'd have the kiddie version, and the adult version. GO KINKY ROBOT SEX! LOL Plus I'd not be broke right now. XD

Chapter Terms:

**Little Spark**: term of endearment that portrays deep affection. Usually only used from a Creator to their own Sparklings and Younglings. However, can also be used between extremely close siblings, example: an older sibling to a younger sibling.

**Darklings**: a specifically odd term used for adopted Sparklings or very young Younglings. Darkling Sparks are extremely rare, they are far more sensitive to all energy waves. If a Sparkling or Youngling show signs of being a Darkling Spark, they are immediately taken in for testing. If they are simply Sensitive and do not display true Dark Sparks, they are returned to their Creators. However, if they are true Dark Sparks, they are trained by CORE Guardians to become Voices of the Allspark. Normally, the Voices and CORE will detect if a Darkling Spark is brought out of the Matrix, and will bring the Sparkling to a Guardian to be adopted and raised. If a Sparkling is created from Budding, then found to be a Darkling Spark, they will either be raised by their Creator with training from the Voices, or will be adopted by the Voices in case the Creator denies their Sparkling.

Darkling Sparks are seen as both infected abominations as well as blessed Primus-Sent. The reason for this is because their Sparks actually have visible dark spots. With training by the Voices, the Sparklings and Younglings can hide the spots from even the most well-trained medics, using their sensitivity for various purposes that other mechs or femmes cannot mimic. Very few admit if they are Dark Sparked, usually keeping the advantages to being so, kept secret.

- Until All Are One -

Title: A Change in Plans

Chapter Four: Sparklings and Mission City Part One

- Until All Are One -

_Previously:_

Mallory Blake Witwicky looked at her daughter, seeing the pain she'd caused and sighed. She beckoned them to follow. "Moving it might be difficult though," she led them into the hangar, nodding as they stared up at the massive surface of one side of the cube.

"Sage," Mikaela looked at her pleadingly. "Any ideas from your friends?"

- Until All Are One -

The girl twitched once she realized everyone had turned to look at her expectantly. She looked over to ShadowFlight, who was staring at the Cube and seemed to silently talk to it, since her mouth was moving. The humans, seeing she was ignoring them, started to try and plan their next moves. After several heated discussions over their various plans, Mikaela piped up.

"Can't we contact the Autobots?" she asked Sam. He shrugged.

"I don't exactly have their phone numbers, if they even have phone numbers." He replied.

"But they have the glasses, so wouldn't the coordinates bring them here?" she pressed. Sam blinked, scratching at the back of his head.

"Maybe,"

"Then they should be on their way here then," Mikaela noted. The agents and soldiers shared uncertain looks. Suddenly, the whole area shook. The lights flickered but remained on, as the scientists began shouting directions and orders.

"Gentlemen, they know the Cube is here," Keller spoke calmly. Banacheck ran over to a phone and began speaking into it.

"Do you have an arms room?" Captain Lennox demanded to Simmons. At the man's nod, they ran out of the hangar to the specified room. Sam and Mikaela didn't notice Sage had lagged behind. "Forty millimeter sabot rounds on that table!" the Captain ordered, helping sort through the various ammunitions. "That's good. Get all the ammo you got. Everything you can carry. Bring it." Sam went over to Simmons.

"Listen, we need to contact the Autobots, bring them here, they'll know what to do with the Cube!" Sam urged. Simmons snorted in disbelief, grabbing his own weapon.

"We do not know what will happen if we let those robots near that Cube!"

"You don't know,"

"Maybe you know, but I don't!" his raised voice caught everyone's attention.

"So you just wanna sit here and wait and see what happens?" Sam cried in disbelief.

"I have people's lives at stake here young man!" Simmons grabbed his shirt, yanking him forward. At that move, Captain Lennox pulled his gun, shoving Simmons back and pointing it at his chest.

"Listen to the kid, he seems to know a helluva lot more than you do right now!"

"Drop it!" several agents aimed their guns at him, his soldiers instantly raising their own in defense of their leader.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Banacheck yelped, trying to stop the inevitable gun fight.

"Drop your weapon, soldier." Simmons ordered. "There's an alien war going on and you're gonna shoot me?"

"You know, we didn't ask to be here." The Captain dug the gun deeper into his chest.

"I'm ordering you under S-Seven executive jurisdiction…"

"Seven don't exist!" Epps retorted. Sage blinked and grinned evilly, inching closer.

"Right, and we don't take orders form people who don't exist." Lennox nodded, inching closer.

"I'm gonna count to five. Okay." Simmons started, softly.

"Well, I'm gonna count to three." Lennox responded.

"Simmons?" Keller called.

"Yes, sir?"

"I'd do what he says. Losing is really not an option for these guys."

"All right. Okay." He grumbled, putting his hands up. The soldiers slowly lowered their weapons, Lennox being last. "Hey, you want to lay the fate of the world on the kid's robot buddies? That's cool." As the Captain stepped away, Sage stepped forward.

"Yo Simmons," the man looked up, just in time to feel her knee connect between his legs, and her left fist to connect with his face. He flew back, smacked his head against the vehicle, and crumpled. "I took on one of those bad-ass Decepticons when he went after Sam, and won. Don't think I won't beat the crap out of you. By the way, that was for threatening Mikaela's dad." She walked away, not seeing the look of sympathy on Lennox's face.

"I don't know what you did to piss her off, but you probably deserved it." He spoke up after a second. Simmons just groaned. They all trooped back to the main hangar, to see Sage sitting cross-legged underneath the Cube, leaning back on her hands to stare up at it. She was making some odd humming sounds. To everyone's surprise, the Cube seemed to be reacting to her humming. Flickers of power danced across the surface, dancing down the long wires that were clipped to it.

"By the way, what did you mean by its energy?" Epps spoke up warily, seeing what appeared to be lightning gathering on the large surface.

"Well, we don't really have time for a demonstration," Simmons piped up, staring in awe. Everyone ignored the higher pitch he was speaking at. Suddenly, seemingly in response to what they'd said, two forks of the lightning shot out and connected with two pieces of machinery. An ominous hum echoed around the hangar as the energy was absorbed, then the familiar music to the teens began. Sage shot up, heading over as the two finished transforming, revealing dark red eyes and charging up their weapons.

"Shh, it's alright," she soothed, moving slowly over to them. The two, seemingly twins, paused, looking at her curiously. A string of clicks, coos, warbling, and whirls sounded between them, directed at her. She hummed softly, which caused them to blink then power down their weapons completely. Instead they stepped forward and began poking and examining her hair and clothes. She petted their armor absently, eyes widening briefly at their size. Since they had both been created out of two of the matching large computer consoles in the hangar, both were larger than the humans. Roughly about nine feet tall, they were slender but well-armored, with disjointed legs like a bird, and the armor panellings emerging from their shoulders to form what appeared to be winglets, similar to an insect's wing covers. They both had two thin arms that ended in delicate claws, three claws and one thumb on each hand. They were mostly silvery-white, with black under their armor.

"Holy shit," the two jerked, looking up at the other humans. At seeing the soldiers with weaponry, they immediately bristled, their armor fluffing up, and crouching, hissing. One of the two stepped forward, side-stepping to block Sage from view, powering his weapons up threateningly.

"Bree! Bree! Calm him down please!" Sam yelped. His cousin darted out from behind her protector, twirling away nimbly from the other one who had reached out to stop her, and stood in front of the two. She reached out and gently pushed the cannons down to face the ground, stepping up to hug the agitated twin.

"It's okay, they're not going to hurt you," she murmured soothingly. The two hesitated, eying them, then reluctantly slid their cannons away again. Instead, the one she was hugging, abruptly lifted her up, earning a surprised yelp, and set her on his shoulders, moving with surprising grace and fluidity over to the platform the Cube was on. His twin followed, stepping up and warbling to the Cube, reaching up to try and touch the artifact. They were too short, even after extending their legs up to reach twelve feet. Annoyed, the two chattered to each other before the second twin darted up to the catwalks, frightening several humans, and used it to jump up and latch onto the Cube's surface. The two hummed in unison, speaking their tongue, and almost singing. To the humans, the song was eerily beautiful and alien.

"Whoa, they doing something!" Epps yelped, stepping back. It was true, the Cube appeared to start glowing, then folded down. "They doing something ai'ight." The one who was touching the Cube leaped down, rolling to avoid damage, and straightened a few feet from his twin. His twin, who still had Sage perched on his shoulders, warbled softly as the Cube descended. Sage reached up, catching the Cube as it fell. She hissed softly at some shock, but cradled the Cube carefully to her chest, not letting it touch the helm in front of her. The twins, their task complete, turned expectantly to the group, moving cautiously forward. Lennox seemed to read their faces, since he stepped forward.

"Alright, we stay here, we're screwed with Megatron in the other hangar." He started, turning to Keller. "Mission City is twenty-two miles away. We're gonna sneal that Cube out of here, and we're gonna hide it somewhere in the city."

"Good! Right." Keller agreed, rubbing his hands.

"But we cannot make a stand without the Air Force." Lennox continued. "This place must have some kind of radio link!"

"Yes, Shortwave, CB." Keller motioned to Simmons. The agent was nodding rapidly.

"Right, yes."

"Sir, you got to figure out some way to get word out to them. Let's move!" Lennox got his men moving.

"In the alien archive, sir!" Simmons blurted out.

"The alien…"

"There's an old Army radio console."

"Will it work?"

"Anything's possible! Did you see that…" Simmons gestured widely to the Cube and the twins, who were watching his gestures interestedly.

"Alright, Sam," Lennox patted the teen's shoulder. "Get that Cube into one of our cars…Mr. Secretary! Get our birds in the air! When we get to the city, we're gonna find a radio, and I'll have Epps vector them in, okay?"

"Affirmative!" the chorus of soldiers sounded.

"**Danger Will Robinson! Danger! Danger!**" the quote suddenly blasted out. Everyone turned to the twins, who were fidgeting.

"**Oh God, we're gonna die! We're gonna DI-I-I-IE!**"

"**Ever seen Okay Corral? Lotta people died!**" they chirped worriedly, bobbing their heads.

"They're right," Sage spoke up, not questioning how they managed to hack the Internet. "There's gonna be a lot of people getting caught in the crossfire, can't we warn the police to try and evacuate?" Lennox nodded, thoughtfully.

"We can try, but no one's got a working radio right…now…" he trailed off as the free twin pounced on a computer console, tearing it apart. Despite protests from several scientists and agents, he quickly disassembled then reassembled several of the componenets. He chirped a question, his twin replied by heading over to another console, digging around until he found a telephone. The free twin scanned the device, then began reconfiguring several different pieces. The other moved over and tapped one of the handheld radios one of the soldiers had. Getting the go ahead from his captain, the soldier handed over the radio to the twin, who brought it over to the other. Chirping, warbling, and a few curse-sounding hisses later, they twin held up a slightly bulky radio with a very long antennae. Handing it over to Lennox, it chirped and chattered as it adjusted several dials. Instantly the radio began emitting static sounds, to the cheer of the soldiers.

"That's awesome," Lennox patted the twin, and was surprised when it patted him back gently, though on his head. "Listen, can you stay and help Mr. Secretary? He needs a radio too." An affirmative chirp before he quickly followed the group towards the alien archives. "Alright, Sage, I need you, Sam, and Mikaela in one of the trucks." He was surprised at the whining coming from the remaining twin, who was grabbing her legs protectively. The determination in his optics made the Captain sigh. "I don't know how we can transport you, maybe you should stay…" the growling that interrupted him made him step back. "Fine, fine, but we need to go, now!" Sage glanced back to wave to her mom, who waved back, silently watching them leave.

- Until All Are One -

Once Mallory Blake watched the soldiers take her daughter and nephew to relative safety, she headed to her personal console. Backing up all the data and research, she put it all on several portable USB drives, then slid all of them into a shipping envelope. Scrawling the address to Sam's house, she put the stamps on, then sent it down a chute to the mailing room. She watched as the cryostasis failed, and stood defiantly as Megatron burst into the hangar. As the other scientists ran screaming, she glared up at the terrible titan. Megatron, spotting her, grinned maliciously.

"Because of your connection to my Little Spark," he purred, leaning down, his claws moving to surround her, "I shall kill you swiftly!" his claws shot out, slicing into her frail organic body. She was dead before her limbs and torso hit the floor. He moved out of the hangar, stepping on as many humans as he could, taking great pleasure in doing so. He heard more than saw Starscream land beside him.

"I live to serve you, Lord Megatron."

"Where is the Cube?"

"The humans have taken it."

"You fail me yet again, Starscream." He growled, then paused, feeling the connection he had to the young femme flare. Feeling her sense of relief and safety, he knew that she had met up with his brother. "The small human femme that radiates with Allspark energy, she is NOT to be harmed." He growled out, then leaped and transformed, flying away from his quivering Air Commander. Starscream snarled in defiance, following.

- Until All Are One -

Sam, Mikaela, and Sage were squished once again into a black SUV, Sage in the middle holding onto the Cube for dear life. A tingling in her chest caused her to look up, just in time to see a convoy of strange vehicles about to pass them by. Launching herself across the seat, over Sam's lap, she stuck most of her upper torso out the window, despite several protests and the curse from the driver.

"BUMBLEBEE!" she screamed, waving the Cube. Immediately, the convoy sped up, shooting past them to perform stunning U-turns. As Prime passed, she shivered as a sense of safety and calm swept throughout her. Sam yanked her back in, cursing, as they hit the expressway. As the Camaro sped up to drive beside them, Sam looked behind them.

"Oh no!"

"What?"

"It's the same cop! Block them, block them, block them." Sam chanted, as the familiar cop and an unfamiliar military vehicle slammed onto the expressway. They watched as the Autobots attempted to block the two, then the military vehicle transformed. The monstrous Decepticon began skating along the highway. They all were thankful that Lennox had managed to call ahead, and got the highway mostly cleared, since the few cars that were there, immediately pulled out of the way at that thing coming at them. After going under a bridge, Prime transformed too, hurling himself and tackling the Con over the edge.

"Oh no! Prime!" Sage cried. The radio crackled on suddenly, the deep voice of Ironhide filtering through.

"Prime can handle a single Con just fine, now keep moving!" the weapon specialist ordered, pulling up faster and nudging the SUV. "He'll catch up! Now GO!" the driver floored it, keeping his composure despite the talking radio. Thankfully, as they exited towards Mission City, Lennox seemed to have been able to evacuate most people from the vicinity. They all pulled to a stop in front of a small store called Rhonda's Pawn Shop, the soldiers getting out and forming a temporary perimeter. Lennox disappeared into the store briefly, then came back out with some more radios. Sam, Mikaela, and Sage crawled out and ran over to Bumblebee, who warbled happily, blinking his lights. Ironhide pulled up behind them, while Jazz pulled up behind the other two Autobots, forming a triangle with them in the center.

"Thank goodness you're all alright," Sage shifted the Cube to her hip.

"We need to get the Allspark away from here," Ironhide spoke uneasily.

"Most of the humans are away, thank Primus, guess those soldiers know what they're doing." Jazz added, scanning around.

"Hopefully they'll get most of the city evacuated before any Cons show up," Mikaela squeezed Sam's hand.

"Here! I got shortwave radios!" Lennox's call grabbed their attention. He handed them to Epps, who looked at them blankly.

"Wait. What am I supposed to do with these?" he asked bemusedly.

"Well, use them! It's all we got!" his Captain seemed a bit too cheerful for the moment.

"This is like RadioShack dinosaur radios or something, man." He complained, turning them over in his hands. "I'm only gonna get 20 or 30 miles out of these things." he warned, figuring them out. Before anyone could reply, a jet screamed overhead. "Are there any aircraft orbiting the city?" Epps called, speaking into the radio. They waited a moment, then one soldier called out lookout.

"F-22 at 12:00!" a sense of dread filled Sage and she stepped back, closer to the Topkick, who was slightly growling.

"Alright, I want planes for air cover and get Black Hawks on station to extract that Cube. You got it?" Lennox ordered. "Air Force has arrived! Pop smoke!" Lennox called out after several moments.

Epps ordered. "Raptor, Raptor, do you copy? We have your visual. Green smoke is the mark. Provide air cover and vector Black Hawks for extraction." He provided the orders, as another popped the green flare. As they watched the jet turn, flying too close to buildings, his stomach clenched in dread. The next shout heard only confirmed it. Most soldiers turned at the louder musical tone as Ironhide transformed, carefully around the teens.

"It's Starscream!" he warned, moving forward. The other Autobots began moving, startling the soldiers.

"Please tell me you copy." Epps pleaded into the radio, watching as the jet headed for them.

"Back up! Take cover! Bumblebee!" Ironhide wasted no time, the soldiers doing what he said as he moved to a truck. The scout helped him move and lift the truck up to use as a shield, just as the jet let loose several missiles.

"No, no, no, no, no! Move!" Lennox grabbed the teens, yanking them back.

"Back up! Back UP! Retreat! Fall back!" he bellowed, hefting the truck up higher. "INCOMING!" Ironhide bellowed, trying to give enough warning to the humans to dive to the ground. The missiles collided with the truck, sending both Autobots flying back. The shockwaves from both the collision of missiles, the explosion, and the falling Autobots, caused most humans to fly back even if they were already on the ground. Sam and Mikaela looked up slowly, reaching out to each other, as shouts from the recovering soldiers rang throughout the air.

"Anybody hurt? Everyone okay?"

"Clear the area!"

"Oh my God." Part of a wall crumbled, revealing Bumblebee whining and attempting to crawl forward, his legs below the knees completely gone. "Bumblebee? No. Your legs!" Sam tottered over to his guardian, staring at the leaking stumps. "Your legs." He pushed against Jazz, who had crept forward. "Here. Here, back, back, back, back! You all right? Please get up. Bumblebee? Get up!" Sam pleaded hysterically. Bee whined softly, crawling closer. "Ratchet!" he screamed. Mikaela covered her mouth, eyes beginning to tear up from seeing the sweet Autobot so injured. Sage, slowly moving over towards them, couldn't tear her eyes away from the damaged lines and tubing. She felt the Cube slowly warm up in her hands, the glyphs shining briefly.

"What the hell was that?" Lennox demanded.

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean, what am I talking about? They shot at us!"

"F-22 pilots would never fly below buildings. That's alien. That ain't friendly!" Epps snarled at his CO.

"You've got to get up. You're okay. You're okay. Come on!" Sam coaxed.

"**Army Black Hawk inbound to your location. Over.**" The radio sizzled in Epps's ear.

"Alpha 273 degrees, 10 miles. November Victor, 1.2 clicks north." Suddenly another shot was heard, this time from down the street. Everyone turned to see a tank rolling down the street, crushing parked cars without a care. As the soldiers attempted to get a visual, Jazz and Ratchet barreled down the street, nimbly dodging debris and cars in their way.

"Move out! Let's go!" Lennox ordered, patting Epps's shoulder. As the military vehicles began to move, Mikaela looked around wildly for something to help. She spotted a tow truck but before she could move to it, the twin who had insisted on coming, managed to climb out of the truck he'd climbed in, moving over to her. He chattered worriedly, looking around, his cannons deployed.

"We've got to help Bumblebee!" she stated, pointing over to the tow truck. He bobbed his head, guarding her as they made their way over.

"Let's go! Move!" a soldier shouted. Sam shook his head, staring at Bumblebee.

"I'm not going to leave you." He whispered, reaching out to touch his guardian's hand. Bumblebee whined softly, looking over to see the others racing over to fight Demolisher. Ironhide had reverted back to his truck mode, moving with unbelievable speed and transforming in motion with skill, to dodge several missiles with a somersault. Jazz sped up, also transforming in motion, to neatly spin-flip up on top, damaging the main turret.

"Come on, Decepticon punk!" He nimbly leaped up as the Con started transforming, twisting, then kicking off the missile launcher on his shoulder, before being grabbed and thrown off into a building. Ironhide rolled, firing his cannons in mid-air, his shots taking most of the armor off of the Con's chest. Jazz shot out in front, expertly avoiding the blasts to shoot at the already damaged area. Ratchet roared out from a side-street, transforming in mid leap as he activated his saw blades, jumping over the Con and slicing one arm off completely, landing on his feet perfectly.

"Concentrate your fire!" Lennox ordered, as they lined up behind cover, aiming their weapons. They let off a volley that sent the Con flipping backwards, falling into a storefront.

The twin and Mikaela got to the tow truck with little difficulty, the twin breaking the handle and helping her in. "Come on. Come on!" Mikaela urged, trying to hotwire the tow truck. She didn't see the twin suddenly stiffen, turning abruptly to look at Sage.

The older girl had been silent since Starscream's attack, no one had realized, being too busy, that her eyes had also clouded over completely. She had slowly moved over to the crippled scout, scraped up hands clutching the Cube tightly. She was so completely lost in her trance she didn't feel the various cuts that bled all over her body, one over her left eye was bleeding particularly badly, trailing blood down her face to drip steadily off of her chin. She couldn't hear anything happening outside, only the chorus voice of the Allspark.

'_**The Youngling is hurt, because of us. So many of our Children are Lost because of us. So many have joined the Matrix before their time.**_'

'_Can you help him?_' her voice was so small, so young in comparison to the others, but her words quieted them. '_He's hurt, he's in so much pain, please help him!_'

'_**Many are hurt, many are in pain. We cannot heal all of them.**_' The sorrow was apparent.

'_But you can help him, he's right here, I'll do anything!_' she cried, watching her cousin try to comfort the scout, watching as Mikaela tried to help out as well. She vaguely felt the alarm and worry coming from her present twin, could see him approaching her. She could also feel the confusion, the second-hand worry, from her other twin, who could sense both his brother and her.

"_**Anything, Little Spark?**_" the chorus whispered, alarmed. "_**Would you truly give anything to help our children? Even though because of them, you have suffered so much. The loss of your innocence, when we called you to us, to see the Little Spark we had grown in an organic femme? The loss of your Mech Creator, who died bravely, protecting a village from Starscream? What about the loss of your Femme Creator, who was slain by Megatron because of her actions against him?**_'

'_My mom's dead?_' her voice became softer, pain burning throughout her chest at the thought.

'_**He gave her a painless death, because she created you. He has claimed you for his own, Little Spark.**_' More sorrow, but also anger, anger at the disregard for life that he had shown.

'_I'll do anything for them,_' Sage answered after a moment, '_I can feel Prime, we're connected to each other, and he makes me feel safe. Something I haven't felt since my dad died. I love Bumblebee, he's so sweet and adorable, like a brother. I don't know the others very well, but I care for them too. They've suffered so much, if I can help them in someway, I'd do so in a heartbeat. They've become part of my family._'

'_**And what about your human family? Samuel and his Creators? Will you abandon them for the Autobots?**_' the chorus pressed.

'_Never, but they don't need me, they love me, and I love them, but they also want an ordinary life. Something I can't accept. I want to be involved in something special, I want to stay with the Autobots._'

'_**What about your humanity?**_'

'_What do you mean?_' she felt dread at that question.

'_**Ratchet can still stop your Cybertronian growth, but if you attempt to use our power, it will become irreversible. You can still live a human life. It will take several vorns for you to shed your organic shell, if you use our power, it may speed up the process, transforming you into one of us within a single vorn. Will you give up your last chance of humanity? To heal the Youngling?**_'

'_Will all of them survive, if I don't?_' her question silenced the chorus, who seemed to be debating or checking something.

'_**You wish to save their lives**_,' it wasn't a question, '_**Tell us, will you save only Autobots?**_' Sage blinked and thought heavily on the seemingly innocent question.

'_No, I would save Decepticons too, if I could,_' she replied, knowing it was the right answer, but also knowing that she would.

'_**Why?**_' Such a simple question, yet such a difficult one to answer. Something she had heard all her life, suddenly came to her mind. She didn't know who had told it to her, she didn't know why they had said it, but she knew it to be an absolute truth.

'_Freedom is the right of all sentient life. That includes the freedom of life. Unless someone is trying to kill someone I care about, even then, I don't think I could ever condone killing. Incapacitating them, yes, killing no._'

'_**Such wisdom from one so young. You will make a fine Guardian,**_' she suddenly found herself kneeling beside Bumblebee, Sam looking at her curiously. '_**It is your choice, and yours alone. Sacrifice your humanity to save the five Autobots or choose an ordinary human life. But we know you will try to save the smallest one from Megatron's wrath. You alone, have that power over the once High Protector. What is your choice?**_'

"Bree? What are you doing? What's with your eyes?" Sam's panicked voice was muffled. She looked up at her cousin, her eyes clearing, but glowing gold.

"No sacrifice, no victory, right Sam?" she smiled painfully, watching his eyes go wide, then closed her eyes and made her choice. The Cube lit up, a corona of white light surrounding her.

- Until All Are One -

"Megatron!" The dark figure descended, landing in an alleyway. His dark red optics filled with bloodlust.

"It's Megatron! Retreat! Move! Fall back!" Ratchet ordered, waving the soldiers back as he ducked back. Jazz stood his ground, firing at the titan to give the soldiers time to move.

"Fall back!" Lennox screamed, seeing the silver titan himself. He could only watch as Jazz flew back after Megatron shot his own cannon, having delayed long enough for the humans to move. He groaned as he hit the ground, moving away from the titan and transforming to get out of his way and reach. "Get our guys out of the way! Get out of here! GO! Get them out of the buggy! Move out!" several soldiers grabbed injured, carrying them away from the leader of the Decepticons.

"We need air cover down here now!" Epps screamed into the radio. They all started to group back at the original street, when a bright white column of light erupted, reaching over fifty feet into the air. It swirled with golden glyphs appearing in concentric circles.

- Until All Are One -

Mikaela drove the tow truck over, stepping out just as she heard Sage's words, the corona bursting around her kneeling form. The twin warbled in fear, reaching out to try and touch her, but was knocked back by the swirl of energy as it formed a column, shooting up into the sky. Golden glyphs appeared, forming concentric circles, but various other markings flowed along between the lines of glyphs. Slowly, it folded back in, morphing into what appeared to be a delicate golden filigree orb around the petite human inside. It was constantly moving, but moved with her, as she reached out to rest a shaking hand against Bumblebee's leg. The golden strands flowed around her, sliding around his torn off legs, blue lightning sparking as his legs slowly reformed. Despite seeing her literally, but slowly, healing Bumblebee; none of them missed seeing how she curled up in agony around the Cube, one arm wrapped around the blindingly glowing artifact, black toxic-looking lines appearing on the hand that rested on the scout's leg.

"SLAGGING FEMME!" the roar stunned them as Ratchet burst off a side street, diving towards them. Behind him, they could see the soldiers covering the rear, Jazz and Ironhide seconds behind the medic. A tall silver form also appeared, moving slowly and deliberately towards them. "Slagging, moronic…" he trailed off into Cybertronian expletives as he attempted to touch her. Just like with the twin, however, his hand was shocked, forcing him to pull back. "Ironhide! Jazz!" he snapped out orders in their native language, that caused them to immediately crouch on either side of him. They yanked open panels on their wrists, pulling free a delicate cord that had a plug on it. The two plugged their cords into ports on the medic's neck, trembling as they established the connection. Then they both laid their free hand against Bumblebee. As soon as the circuit was completed, Ratchet drove both his hands into the dome. It held briefly, then allowed him to scoop the girl up in his palms. Instantly, the glow faded from gold to white, then turned back to blue, enveloping all the Autobots in a soft light. Sam and Mikaela could see how stressed the four bots were, the power rushing through their systems. As soon as the others had connected to the power however, Bumblebee's legs instantly were repaired, the power being focused by the medic. Surprisingly, many of the faded scarring on the others was also repaired, Ironhide's optic and knee in particular. Yet the energy flow wasn't stopping, causing looks of pain to appear on the bots' faces, until the twin began humming and singing. The power arched, slamming into the tow truck, before fading away from the Autobot soldiers. Sage blinked her eyes several times; they were still gold but not glowing anymore, before she smiled at the tow truck as it began transforming. She leaned back against Ratchet's palms, spotting the translucent shielding surrounding the four bots before it became invisible. She shakily handed Sam the Cube, looking smaller and younger than she ever did.

"Bree, you okay?" her sweet adorable cousin asked, clutching the Cube to his chest. Bumblebee slowly stood up, the new transformer helping him.

"Oh, that hurt," she whispered, before collapsing limply into his palms. She was still conscious, but barely. The roar of rage quickly snapped the Autobots out of their disbelief, unhooking themselves as they turned to see Megatron approaching, his optics focused only on the tiny femme.

- Until All Are One -

Lennox wasn't certain where the Autobots were, but he was certain they were distracting Megatron and dealing with that alien light. Something about that light however, was making him alarmed. He was about to continue the fall back when Donelly grabbed his arm.

"Sir! That tank thing's getting back up." Lennox looked over in disbelief.

"Oh, these things just don't die." He groaned. Hearing something behind, he whipped around, eyes spotting a familiar figure landing on a nearby building. "Oh, we're so dead." He got his men moving back, spotting the Autobots just as Jazz and Ironhide split to deal with an approaching Megatron. He quickly noted that Sam and Mikaela were standing beside each other, Sage was unconscious in the medic Autobot's hands, and Bumblebee was standing? Right beside a new alien he didn't recognize. "Sam!" he called as they ran over. "Where's the Cube?"

"Right here,"

"Okay." He ran past, moving between the new alien's legs, looking around. "Epps, get those Black Hawks here!" he called over his shoulder, then spotted what he wanted. "That building," he ran back over to the teens. "Okay."

"What?"

"Alright, I can't leave my guys back there, so here," he yanked out a metal tube labeled with a stripe of orange, "take this flare. Okay there's a tall, white building with statues on top. Go to the roof. Set the flare."

"No." Sam shook his head in disbelief as the Captain shoved the flare into his hand.

"Signal the chopper and set the flare." He continued, ignoring Sam's protest.

"No, no. I can't do this!" He grabbed Sam's shirt, yanking him down.

"Listen to me! You're a soldier now! Alright? I need you to take this Cube." He shoved the Cube into his hands, ignoring how warm it was, "Get it into military hands while we hold them off, or a lot of people are gonna die." He turned to Mikaela. "You got to go. You got to go." he started struggling with her.

"No, I'm not leaving."

"You need to go. Go."

"No, I'm not leaving without Sage," she protested. He paused, looking at her determined face. Ratchet stepped in then, he clicked something, which caused the twin and the tow truck to immediately scamper forward. The tow truck folded back down, opening his door. The twin gently lifted Sage into his arm, carrying her over to the passenger seat. He chirped to Mikaela, motioning with his head for her to get in.

"They will protect the both of you," Ratchet assured, "they will do anything to protect their Creator, especially since she is in such a defenseless state right now." She nodded after a moment, climbing into the driver's seat. The twin clambered onto the back, wiggling on securely.

"Immediate evac for civilian boy with precious cargo. Headed to rooftop marked by flare." Epps radioed in.

"Sam, we will protect you," Ratchet stood, Bumblebee nodding in agreement.

"Okay,"

"Epps, where are those planes?"

"Sam!" Mikaela jumped out, running over to him. "No matter what happens, I'm really glad I got in that car with you." She whispered, holding him tightly.

"Sam! Let's go! Move!" Ratchet ordered.

"Decepticons, attack!" Megatron roared.

"Hit it!" Donelly shouted, firing at Demolisher. He let loose a barrage of shots, making the soldiers duck down.

"Cover fire! Move to cover!" Ratchet ordered. Sam took off running, glancing back to see Bumblebee, his cannon deployed and battle-mask down. Turning back to face forward, he yelped as he saw Blackout land in front of him. "Watch out!" Ratchet warned, just before Bumblebee dove in front, blasting apart the car that Blackout had thrown at them. He turned back forward just to get slammed as Blackout lunged after the attack, sending him flying back. Sam continued running, despite his worry for his guardian.

"Girl, get going!"

"I'm going! I'm going!" Mikaela hollered back, diving into the seat as the transformer pulled up beside her.

"Get out of here now!" Lennox bellowed, as the tank continued firing. They all sighed in relief when they saw the familiar semi come barreling down an alleyway. As the Autobot leader transformed, Jazz and Ironhide moved away from the titan, heavily damaged but functioning.

"Megatron!" Prime yelled. His brother turned, growling, to face him. Leaping up, he transformed, flying towards his younger brother. The Prime crouched, then leaped, grabbing onto his wings and ended up going for a ride. Despite going through a, thankfully empty, building, the Prime didn't release his brother until they crashed to the ground. Brawling on the ground, Megatron got the upper hand.

"Humans don't deserve to live." He whispered seductively.

"They deserve to choose for themselves!" Optimus retorted, ignoring the charismatic appeal of his brother. The two struggled, pushing away.

"Then you will die with them!" his voice shifted from seductive to enraged, throwing the Prime away and crouching. "Join them in extinction!" he braced himself, transforming his arms as he brought them together to form his cannon. Before he could fire however, Optimus stood, shooting his own cannon and interrupting his shot. However, he twisted around, using his momentum to bear him around and swiftly fired, knocking his younger brother back into a building. The Prime fell to the ground, groaning for a moment or two.

- Until All Are One -

"Keep moving Sam!" Sam kept running, no need to tell him again. "Don't stop!" Sam glanced up at the sound ahead of him, then ducked and rolled as Starscream flew down and transformed. Sam barely rolled behind a car to avoid several flying ones, sheltered partly by the one he rested behind. He clutched on to Cube as Ratchet and Bee faced off against the Seeker. The Seeker flew off, allowing Sam to peek out. "Sam, get to the building," Ratchet ordered as he and Bee collapsed, heavily damaged. Nodding, he took off again, dodging between cars. Unfortunately, it became obvious that this part of the city hadn't been evacuated, since people began screaming and traffic was still moving. Megatron flew from overhead, landing on the street and tearing cars out of his way.

"Give me that Cube, boy!" he roared. Sam ducked into oncoming traffic, praying he wasn't going to die. Unfortunately he dodged right in front of an Escalade being driven by a total snob. She stopped with a screech of brakes, but he accidentally hit the Cube against the hood. He then proceeded to tumble and trip, smacking the artifact against the ground. A wave of energy passed from the Cube, relatively weak, but activated a packaged X-box, the Escalade he just smacked into, as well as a Mountain Dew vending machine. He jumped to his feet running to the building, hoping the new bots weren't Decepticons.

"Did that jerk just dent my car?" the snob demanded, then screamed as the steering wheel deployed malicious-looking hooks. She and her friend ran from the car screaming, allowing it to transform. The Escalade, looking similar to Ironhide but with a more human-like face, scooped up the chattering X-box, and headed over to the vending machine, who was gleefully shooting passing humans with Mountian Dew cans, though gently. Scooping the other bot up, the largest proceeded to run down the road. Suddenly, a tow truck squealed in front, the twin standing upright and chattering quickly. The new Sparklings immediately began following, as Mikaela drove them out of harm's way.

- Until All Are One -

Sam breathed a sigh of relief, or attempted to since he was panting, once he spotted the building. Racing forward, he ran in through the open gate, dashing into the large hall. Briefly he thought how much Sage would enjoy looking around, before he spotted the stairs and began struggling up them. "You're not gonna get me. You're not gonna get me!" he whispered hysterically, glancing back every now and again. He reached the other side of the building in time to hear Megatron leap through the stained-glass window, roaring.

"I smell you, boy!" the titan stepped in, listening. Hearing the footsteps, he growled and burst through the ceiling behind the running teen. Growling at the yelp, but not catching him, he snarled. "Maggot!" Sam groaned, looking up the several flights of stairs, then started up them.

- Until All Are One -

pages 24


	5. Sparklings and Mission City Part Two

Summary: Sam's cousin has always been different. Despite this, she and Sam had always been close. When the Autobots come into the picture, will she allow her beloved cousin to deal with the repercussions of their arrival, or shoulder the responsibility herself? Is she strong enough to? Also, what is the connection she shares with several Decepticons? As well as the Allspark?

Warnings: I've watched the Movies, I've seen most of the episodes of Beast Wars and Beast Machines, seen some episodes of Armada and read various online stuff. I do not know most of the storylines in Generation one, but I do know most of the characters and their personalities. This will be a mix-matched version of what I do know, and probably will only make sense to me and those who have an open mind. The movies are awesome in special effects, and as I know them best, I will be using them as the starting point, but with info from other areas, such as the Ark having been crashed on Earth for a long time. I will also be royally screwing some things on PURPOSE to suit how I felt some things could have gone. In my mind this is all in a sort of ANIME-STYLE not live-action characters. Some bots and cons will be Movie style in alt mode, others will be Gen One.

Also, some terms down below I made up, the time terms for the Cybertronians are relative from what I've read about. My Cybertronian Culture Notes are mine, my view of how the Fallen's disgrace had occurred, and the surviving Prime who returned to Cybertron after that betrayal. I do not approve of plagiarizing otherwise I would happily incorporate the awesome ideas of other authors such as the Carrying Holds, the Spike and Port Interface Array, and other misc. things.

I don't remember however if I had read in someone else's story about Budding. If I did I do apologize, however the explanations below took me a long time to figure out and put into words. If the Budding Process has been used, I'll simply change the name to something else since my explanation is my own.

Terms:

**Bud Spark** – an influx of energy formed during the action of Spark Interface, not necessarily during regular interface. This bud is highly sensitive to various conditions, dissipating if not properly contained or formed. Should all conditions be met, the bud will attach itself to the stronger Spark and form into a Semi Spark.

**Semi Spark** – a half-formed spark still in the stage of development. It is still sensitive but stronger than a Bud. Unless the Bearer Spark is weakened, or outright rejects the Young Spark, it will fully mature into a Sparkling after 10 orns.

**Sparkling** – Newborn. Refers to Unborn Sparks to Young Sparks roughly a single Vorn old.

**Youngling** – Child. Refers to Young Sparks roughly from 1 vorn to 10 vorns old. Also can be used by older Cybertronians when referring to those younger than them.

**Mech Spark** – a normal spark designed to power a frame. A mech spark has a 20% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another mech spark. Should enough energy be stored and such a bud spark be formed, the bud spark will pick the Mech Spark more efficient or stronger to be it's Bearer. Mech Sparks are either blue or red.

**Femme Spark**- a rarely produced, stronger and more potent spark that utilizes energy more efficiently than a Mech Spark. A Femme Spark has a 40% chance of forming a bud spark when paired with another spark, mech or femme. Femme Sparks are white, or very rarely, gold.

**Creator** – a single Cybertronian who decides to apply for a sparkling from the Allspark OR had created a Sparkling via Budding with another Cybertronian.

**Bearer** – a single Cybertronian who underwent the Budding process and was chosen to carry the Semi Spark. Only if the Semi Spark fully forms into a Sparkling can the Mature Spark be considered a Bearer Spark.

**Bearer Sparks** – sparks that had undergone the Budding Process and produced living Sparklings. After the birthing of a Sparkling, the Mature Spark is considered a Bearer Spark. Bearer Sparks become highly receptive to Spark Energies, the percentage of becoming a Bearer again increases. Mech Sparks range from- 20% to 40%. Femme Sparks range from- 40% to 80%.

**Spark Shields** – equivalent of birth control, normally only used during unsettled times of war or, in Bearer cases, to prevent Spark Exhaustion.

**Caretakers **– Cybertronians who have undergone training and received Creator programming to look after another's Sparklings and Younglings OR Cybertronians who have activated programming due to being Creators themselves, either through the Allspark or Budding.

**Cybertronian Culture Notes: **Mech and Femme frames do not mean male frames and female frames. All frames are built with an Interfacing Array, including ports and cables. Interface without Sparks will not cause Budding, but will store energy influxes to increase chances of Budding when Spark Interface is initiated.

It is perfectly normal for mechs to pair together, as well as femmes to pair together. They do not believe in homosexuality or heterosexuality defining whether a mech or femme is good or not. Because of the ratio of mechs to femmes, it is perfectly normal for mechs to be with each other. In most cases, mechs actually are normal regular interface partners.

They also are not against polygamy. Regular Interface, depending on how far they go, range from showing deep friendship, to showing strong trust, as well as showing intimate connections. Spark Interface is the most intimate form of affection, it also synchronizes the Spark patterns, to allow them to connect deeper. If Sparks are compatible, if the Cybertronians so choose, they can establish a stronger link with one or two others. Linking with compatible Sparks, is as close yet deeper than human marriage customs. Due to different frames needing certain needs, it is entirely possible that two who are Linked, still have other regular interface partners that are not their Linked. Being Linked simply means that they are closer than any others, and would be the preferred partner in Spark Interfacing.

Mech Bearers are also often times referred to as Femmes, due to the higher Budding percentage, depending on a Mech's perception this may be taken as a compliment or insult. They are not true Femmes however, since their Sparks are not as energy efficient nor as strong as True Femme Sparks.

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN MECH AND FEMME FRAMES IS THEIR SPARKS! THEY HAVE NO GENDERS!

Spark coloration is varied. Mech Sparks are usually Blue or Red, whereas Femme Sparks are normally White, or very rarely Gold. Scientists have argued since the beginning of records as to why the Sparks are varied. Only the Allspark CORE Guardians know the answer but have refused to answer or ask the Allspark for its reasons.

**Klik** – roughly 1 Earth minute.

**Breem** – roughly 8 Earth minutes.

**Joor** - roughly 7 Earth hours.

**Orn** - roughly 13 Earth days.

**Vorn** - roughly 83 Earth years.

Chapter Terms:

**Little Spark**: term of endearment that portrays deep affection. Usually only used from a Creator to their own Sparklings and Younglings. However, can also be used between extremely close siblings, example: an older sibling to a younger sibling.

**Darklings**: a specifically odd term used for adopted Sparklings or very young Younglings. Darkling Sparks are extremely rare, they are far more sensitive to all energy waves. If a Sparkling or Youngling show signs of being a Darkling Spark, they are immediately taken in for testing. If they are simply Sensitive and do not display true Dark Sparks, they are returned to their Creators. However, if they are true Dark Sparks, they are trained by CORE Guardians to become Voices of the Allspark. Normally, the Voices and CORE will detect if a Darkling Spark is brought out of the Matrix, and will bring the Sparkling to a Guardian to be adopted and raised. If a Sparkling is created from Budding, then found to be a Darkling Spark, they will either be raised by their Creator with training from the Voices, or will be adopted by the Voices in case the Creator denies their Sparkling.

Darkling Sparks are seen as both infected abominations as well as blessed Primus-Sent. The reason for this is because their Sparks actually have visible dark spots. With training by the Voices, the Sparklings and Younglings can hide the spots from even the most well-trained medics, using their sensitivity for various purposes that other mechs or femmes cannot mimic. Very few admit if they are Dark Sparked, usually keeping the advantages to being so, kept secret.

- Until All Are One -

Title: A Change in Plans

Chapter Five: Sparklings and Mission City Part Two

- Until All Are One -

_Previously:_

"I smell you, boy!" the titan stepped in, listening. Hearing the footsteps, he growled and burst through the ceiling behind the running teen. Growling at the yelp, but not catching him, he snarled. "Maggot!" Sam groaned, looking up the several flights of stairs, then started up them.

- Until All Are One -

Simmons, Maggie, Glen, and Keller raced towards the "alien archives" hangar, realizing moments later that they were being followed by one twin. As the humans moved to the console, discussing how to contact the Air Force, the twin moved around the room curiously. He happily chirped and warbled as he brushed dust off several old computers, fiddling with keyboards.

"We're live! We're hot!" the sparkling turned, hearing Simmons' excited and proud voice.

"Great, where are the mikes?" Looking over, he saw them freeze, Simmons' face falling slightly.

"Mikes?"

"This isn't going to work without mikes Simmons!"

"No, no, no!"

"Come on, we gotta find them."

"They're ALWAYS taking stuff outta here!"

"Shut up and keep looking!" Watching them scramble around, he blinked his red optics, then shrugged. Humans were odd.

- Until All Are One -

"This isn't going well!" Lennox yelped, their weapons were not seemingly making a difference. Suddenly several shots collided with the tank, causing it to bellow out in pain and rage. Bumblebee and Ironhide were a welcome sight, charging their cannons. Firing again, the Con couldn't decide to attack the humans or the Autobots, before one shot collided with his chest, blasting the weakened armor and damaging the spark. One last shot by the humans, and he crumpled to the ground.

"That tank is definitely dead now."

"Alright, let's go! We got business!"

- Until All Are One -

The twin watched as Maggie tried to pry open the computer, then easily reached over and popped the paneling off. Glen, returning from finding a screwdriver, began instructing what he needed. Lifting two computers over, he disassembled them and handed over a few components. As they started to get a signal, he abruptly looked up. Startling the humans, his cannons unfolded, charging with a low whine as he moved to the door. Tilting his head, he warbled a warning, just as something slammed into the door.

"What was that?"

"Quick! Barricade the door!" Glen remained at the computer, working his genius, as the others raced over to push a heavy table in front of the doors. Cannons fully charged, the twin slid the door open and let loose two shots. Cybertronian curses filled the air, as Simmons grabbed a flamethrower.

"Burn Sucka' BURN!" Screeching, gunshots, and Glen impressed the twin with how he continued his reprograming. A few moments of silence, before soft clattering above them turned their attention to the vent shafts. Firing, desperate, they watched in horror as a thin silver Con burst through, moving nimbly. Chittering and chattering, the two traded insults, the twin dodging as the smaller Con let loose shuriken.

"It's the Air Force! They're responding!"

"Okay, send exactly what I say…" the twin, too focused on the Con in the room, ignored the rest of the humans, focusing only on his opponent. He could sense his brother was also fighting, but blocked the Link between them. Shooting around the pillars, he ignored the shuriken that clipped his shoulder, managing to blast the Con into a wall. Before he could get up, the twin, shifting his cannons back, pounced; pounding away at the smaller Con. The two tussled, Frenzy gaining the upper hand due to his experience, but the twin wasn't finished. Rolling, he shifted just enough for Maggie to get a clear shot. The Australian woman impressed them, as she blasted half the Cassetticon's head apart, the body going limp. Warbling, the twin simply laid down for a few moments, blinking at the woman.

"You okay?" she asked, moving to the Sparkling. Chirping sweetly, he sat up, examining his shoulder. The woman immediately came over, looking at the slashes in his armor. "You're okay, they're not even bleeding," she reassured, patting his uninjured shoulder. Tweeting, he smiled at her, then froze as terror swamped him from both Links.

- Until All Are One -

Mikaela drove the tow truck to an area that was still in the evacuated perimeter, not wanting to alarm anyone else with all the new Sparklings running around, plus she wanted to keep them away from any humans as well as keep them out from underfoot. Luckily for her, she simply had to tell them that she wanted them to stay in the intersection area once, the twin and the Escalade seemed pretty mature and were keeping the other rather rambunctious three preoccupied. She helped Sage out of the tow truck before he transformed, looking at some twisted metal and beginning to play with it. She had barely gotten the injured girl settled, and was wiping away the blood on her face, when she stiffened. Sage's eyes flared open, still a molten gold instead of the normal honey-brown, as she gasped for breath suddenly.

"Sam!" she whispered harshly, then got up and ran, despite Mikaela yelling after her. Groaning, she followed the other, though quickly fell behind since she had to keep the Sparklings together instead of wandering off separately. She only hoped the older girl didn't get into any more trouble.

- Until All Are One -

Sam scrambled up the ladder, breathing heavily before scooping the Cube up and running across the roof. Spotting the helicopters, he groaned, moving faster. "Hey!" banging the flare against a wall as he ran past, he grinned as it lit up. "Hey! I'm over here!" waving the flare like a lunatic, he tried desperately to get their attention. He didn't see Starscream land on another roof nearby, tracking him. One of the helicopters flew up beside the roof, one officer reaching out to grab the Cube.

"We've got the boy." Sam tried to reach, but only a few inches separated them. It was pure luck he spotted the figure as it shot a missile at the helicopter.

"Watch out!" he pulled the Cube back, dropping down onto the roof.

"Missile!" the officer yelled, too late. The helicopter burst into flames, nearly slicing him in half, before falling away. He barely heard the familiar voice of the Prime.

"Hang on, Sam!" Standing up and running, he dodged the claw that abruptly shot up out of the ceiling, as he hit the edge, he saw Megatron emerge.

"No! No!" he yelped. Desperate, he climbed up to a statue and clung to the side, slowly inching so the statue was between him and the titan.

"Is it fear or courage that compels you, fleshling?" he taunted.

"Where do I go?" he muttered to himself, finding himself stuck.

"Give me the Allspark and you may live to be my pet." Megatron coaxed, grinning wickedly. He could sense the weak bond between himself and the femme suddenly flicker. He could feel that she knew that he had her family member in a difficult position.

"Oh, no, no, no, no." Sam groaned, slipping. He regained his footing as two helicopters flying close startled Megatron. Gathering his courage, "I'm never giving you this Allspark!"

"Oh, so unwise." Megatron whispered gleefully. He felt her scream in denial and rage, as he formed his flail and destroyed the platform the fleshling was on. As the boy fell, he screamed in horror and terror. Suddenly he stopped, being caught by a large familiar hand. Optimus Prime gently placed the teen against his chassis, holding one hand over him protectively.

"I got you, boy." He reassured, then loosened his grip on the buildings. "Hang on to the Cube!" was all the warning he gave as they started to plummet. Prime used the two buildings to sort of control his descent, but that plan was thrown out when Megatron landed on his shoulders, sending them all plummeting down. The two titans crashed down into the intersection, groaning softly.

"Oh, no. Oh, no!"

"Disgusting." Megatron flicked the injured human away from him, enjoying the thump and crack as it slammed into a nearby car. Prime gently moved his hand away, revealing Sam to be unhurt.

"Sam?" the teen turned, looking at the Prime in awe. "You risked your life to protect the Cube." He stated softly. Sam swallowed, remembering what Sage said just before she collapsed.

"No sacrifice," he whispered, "no victory," the family motto seemed much clearer now.

"If I cannot defeat Megatron, you must push the Cube into my chest. I will sacrifice myself to destroy it. Get behind me." He gently eased him down, standing up. "It's you and me, Megatron." Prime stood slowly, watching his brother do the same.

"No, it's just me, Prime."

"At the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall." Sam huddled down by a busted water pipe, watching as the two faced down.

"You still fight for the weak! That is why you lose!" Megatron yelled, throwing the other down. Neither of the brothers picked up on their bonds that Sage was approaching them, so neither noticed when she suddenly appeared in one intersection as they brawled across in front of her.

- Until All Are One -

Lennox led his men down an alleyway, moving to intercept their target. They all stumbled to a stop when, at the road they were headed towards, the helicopter landed and transformed, not noticing them. They saw the Con heading towards where they could see Prime and Megatron fighting it out.

"Fighter jets in 60 seconds." Epps informed them. "We got friendlies mixed with bad guys. Targets will be marked." He ordered into the radio. He turned as Lennox tapped him.

"Hey. Bring the rain. Alright?" he stepped back, moving slowly to the entrance. "Alright, let's kill these things." He and Epps moved to cover on the road, the others getting ready to taking up position.

"Move, move, move!"

"Remember, aim low. Armor's weak under the chest." Lennox moved to a motorcycle lying in the road, raising it upright and straddling it as the others moved into position. Epps shown a green laser on to the Con, the others following his lead.

"Target marked. Still waiting." Epps murmured into the radio.

"Time on target, 20 seconds." The pilot reported. Lennox revved the bike, driving it further down the street before turning it towards their target.

"F-22s, we're still waiting." He murmured, sweating. They watched as the Con prepped a weapon before spotting the green lasers. Turning to them, he hissed threateningly. "Move out!" Epps shouted. They dodged the shot, rolling to avoid the flying debris. "Incoming!" he shouted. Lennox revved the bike, then started, dodging around people and cars.

"Weapons armed. Status green." The pilot assured. The missiles shot forward, hitting the Con, just as Lennox drove straight for him, sliding off the bike, in between his legs, and shooting up as he laughed hysterically. Sliding past, he watched as the Con fell, upside-down, then turned himself upright.

"Run! Move!" he ordered, standing upright. His men moved forward. They saw the jets get attacked by the alien one, but continued, unable to assist. The remaining jets twirled, dodging Starscream's attacks, as they headed around for the second strike. They loosed the missiles, pulling up and away. The missiles collided, hitting their target: Megatron. The silver titan had previously had the advantage over Prime, but he crumpled after the volley of missiles, as well as the volley from Lennox's team. He saw Sam running, and attempted to tackle him, but Prime tripped him, sending him crashing. The impact sent Sam careening though, his grip on the Cube faltering. It rolled several feet away, falling into a pothole.

"Sam!" the strangled scream grabbed Prime's as well as Megatron's attention. Sage, clutching her side, stumbled forward. The roaring sound of a jet screamed above, causing her to turn. Megatron roared in rage as Starscream disobeyed him, sending a pair of missiles to destroy her and her cousin. Prime yelled out, ordering them to run. Choking, Sage fell to her knees, covering her head. She felt more than saw, the dark figure shoot out from a side alley, launching himself over her and coiling into a defensive crouch. A thunderous explosion, and a short cry of pain, sounded around her, but she was unharmed. Slowly, looking up, her golden eyes locked with the familiar red optics of Barricade. The hunter groaned, rolling to the side, his armor melting and sparking from the blows.

"Finish it Sparkling," he rasped, pointing at the Cube he'd also protected. He groaned before settling on the ground, barely able to move.

'You must activate it,' ShadowFlight whispered, lending her strength. Sage, feeling the femme giving her the last bit of energy she possessed, launched herself at the Cube. Grabbing it, and somersaulting over it, she landed in a crouch, reaching her arm back.

"Sam! Do it!" she yelled, throwing the Cube to him. He caught it, looking at her for one long moment. She grinned slowly, nodding once.

"Sam! Put the Cube in my chest! Now!" they both ignored the Prime. He turned, dashing under Megatron, lifting the cube up high and thrusting it forward.

"You want it so badly, you can have it!" Fire erupted around the Cube as it combined with Megatron's Spark. As he screamed in pain, an oddly soothing sound rose above him. Sam and Prime looked over to see Sage had sunk to her knees; hands open on the ground, vocalizing a wordless, beautiful, alien, song. Her soft tones were blended and blurred, as though a chorus was singing with her. Moments later, a deeper voice joined her. Barricade sat upright, his optics locked on the Cube, as his vocalizing blended seamlessly with hers. The glyphs on the remaining Cube, glowed brightly, turning golden before a circle of energy arched away, coiling around Sage; another part flew away, coiling around Barricade. As the energy flickered and began to expand, it began to falter though. In response to that, the two sang stronger, attempting to keep the power steady. A warbling coo as Bumblebee stepped into the intersection, then he too began vocalizing to the song. A third tendril of energy moved, separating from the mass swirling around Megatron's shell, arching through the air to coil around Bumblebee. Suddenly the song grew louder, the golden energy swirling into a dome and extending outwards until it enveloped Prime, Sam, Megatron, Sage, Bumblebee and Barricade. The dome became opaque, not allowing anyone to see inside, as the soldiers and other Autobots convened on the spot.

- Until All Are One -

Sam blinked, seeing everything seemed to be golden-hued and sort of wispy in nature. They were still in the intersection, but also not. In the center of the circle they formed, Megatron laid still, his Spark dissipating completely. Suddenly, a brighter golden glow appeared in the center above his shell, vaguely forming into the older style Cybertronian frame. The colors of the new Cybertronian were blindingly white, and the same glowing gold as the dome that surrounded them, though her optics were bright violet in contrast.

"Terra Prime," Optimus whispered, kneeling before the femme. She was large, much larger than Optimus and Megatron put together, but she exuded such a calm and maternal aura, that they couldn't help but relax at. Bumblebee chirped, kneeling down as well, beside his leader.

"Hello Optimus," she intoned warmly, an odd chorus echoing in an undertone, one of her four servos reaching out to touch his helm. "You have done so well," she praised in her soft voice. Her servo then touched Bumblebee's helm in a soft caress. "Bumblebee, sweet little one, you have done your duty wonderfully. We hope you will continue to be such a fine Caregiver to Sam." Her optics flickered to Sam, one servo reaching down to gently cradle him. "You've done far better than we thought you would, little one, but we fear more troubles await you in the future." She petted his head with her thumb, before her attention turned to the other two. Her optics deepened, flickering reddish, when she spoke, the chorus was nearly gone. "Barricade, My Little Spark," she murmured, reaching out to him. He shuddered when he felt her stroke his helm soothingly. "You are so strong, stronger than you know," she paused, looking down at the still form of Sage. "It isn't yet your time, Little Spark," she chided, the chorus strengthening again, her last servo gently cupping her to her chassis.

"Bree? Is she okay?" Sam asked. The femme chuckled softly, blinking her large optics.

"She will be fine, but she has done too much today." The Lady Prime stroked the still girl, smiling when she suddenly breathed deeply. As her golden eyes flickered open, the Prime gently turned back to Barricade, the chorus fading again. "My Little Spark, I have one last favor for you,"

"Anything my Lady." He said promptly, kneeling down in the proper Guardian style. Kneeling with one knee close to his chest, his arms up crossed at the wrist, with his servos open to partially cover his facial plates. Optimus felt his optics widen, Barricade was a Guardian? But why…

"Your questions shall be answered later, Optimus," Terra chided gently, turning her luminous optics on him. "Now, for you, Little Spark." She turned, looking him over carefully. "My favor is this," she gently deposited Sage's bemused curled up form into his claws. He stiffened, edging his claws away from her vulnerable flesh. "Take her in as your own, she must be Taught how to be a Protector and a Voice." She hummed contently, watching as he slowly adjusted his grip on her. He hesitated a few more moments, eying the girl in his servos cautiously. She in turn, simply studied him back, not moving from her spot.

"Very well," he agreed.

- Until All Are One -

To the soldiers waiting outside the dome, it seemed to both last an eternity yet only a few seconds, until the dome shrunk, dissipating to reveal a kneeling Prime and scout, a fallen Megatron, a crouching Barricade, and a sitting Sam. As though by an unknown cue, they all stood up, Barricade tenderly holding something hidden in his claws, against his chassis. He snarled soundlessly when he saw Ironhide level his cannons, bringing his precious cargo closer and hunching slightly over it. His damaged armor bristled, sparking in some areas, but his clear body language screamed danger.

"Ironhide, stand down," Prime ordered, reaching out and lowering the closest cannon himself. The weapons specialist hesitated, watching the Con, but an agreeing warble from the scout, who gently tugged on his other cannon, let him lower and dissipate the charge. At seeing the cannons lowered, the protective Con stopped growling, though it was a few moments later that his armor slowly settled back.

"Bree? Bree! Are you okay?" Sam ran over, jumping in place to try and peer at his cousin. Surprisingly, the Con obliged, crouching and spreading his claws to reveal Sage curled up safely in his palms. Sam, fidgeting, fought the urge to jump onto the Con's servos, not knowing if he was allowed. Instead he simply began calling her name hysterically.

"Grr, Sam, shut up, I have a migraine," she finally turned over, clutching her ears. Now visible, she didn't see the way Barricade stiffened at the numerous cuts and bruises that covered her body. The cut above her eye had also reopened, fresh blood trailing down her face over the dried blood. Sam yelped and jumped back, as Sage hissed, when the Con abruptly stood up. He darted over to the medic, who had just stepped into view, shoving his claws under his olfactory sensors.

"What's wrong with her? Why's she leaking? Fix her!" it would have been amusing, at how panicked he suddenly sounded, but for one slight problem.

"Oh God! I'm gonna throw up!" Sage cried, being jostled.

"STOP MOVING!" Ratchet yelled, just as the Con froze at what she'd just said.

"DON'T SLAGGING DARE, YOUNGLING! I WILL NOT HAVE YOUR DISGUSTING ORGANIC FLUIDS ON MY SERVOS!" Barricade actually squealed, shoving her into the medic's servos and taking several large steps back. "EMPTY YOUR TANKS ON THE MEDIC!" the dirty look Ratchet gave him was enough to break the shock everyone else was in. Jazz, appearing beside Ratchet, was the first to guffaw in laughter.

"Geez man, you squeamish or sum'ting?" he chortled.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to clean out organic fluids?" Barricade snarled, shuddering. "That damn rodent was barely larger than her pede and it splattered everywhere!"

"Whoa, whoa, you ran over a squirrel? And you're squeamish at that?" Epps teased. The Con hissed at him, crossing his arms across his chassis.

"It was not a 'squirrel,' " he grumbled, his optics dimming. "It was a 'mouse' ?" his voice was questioning, and all the soldiers keeled over.

"A mouse!" Lennox bent over, clutching his stomach. A sudden thud quieted all of them, then a whining and crying sound caused everyone to turn. Mikaela had managed to corral the Sparklings over to the group, but, the Escalade, having been holding onto a rather boisterous green Sparkling, had tripped over a busted water pipe and landed on the ground harshly. The other Sparklings had froze, looking at him intently, and as Mikaela went to comfort him, he started bawling.

"Oh, it's okay! You're okay big guy!" she tried soothing him, but he merely cried louder, clutching his knee joint.

"Sparklings?" the questioning chirp by Ironhide, who was staring at the group of Sparklings in disbelief, broke everyone's trance. Immediately the Autobots moved over to the group, showing such tenderness and care as they lifted the smaller Sparklings up, that the soldiers could only stare in awe. Ratchet immediately focused on the Escalade, scanning his knee joint and cooing softly as he set Sage down beside Mikaela, who immediately helped the older girl stand straight. A delightful whirl sounded before the twin shot over to her, lifting her up gently and hugging her. He instantly turned to scolding tones though, despite holding her gently and carefully in his servos. At seeing the oldest among them fussing over the human girl, the other Sparklings perked up, looking at her curiously. At their questioning tones, the Autobots responded in deeper voices than the young ones were emitting.

"Wow," Lennox breathed, he even saw Barricade edging over, optics focused on the Sparkling that held his ward.

"Something tells me, that those little guys are precious to the big guys." Epps muttered. At his observation though, the Autobots and Con straightened, looking rather embarrassed to find themselves being observed by curious human eyes.

"We have gained great comrades." Prime rumbled, moving to kneel down beside the soldiers. "Thank you, all of you. You honor us with your bravery." He slowly stood back up, looking around at the destroyed city. "I apologize that our war had to come to your planet," Lennox nodded thoughtfully, then grinned slightly.

"Couldn't ask for better back up though," he nodded to the other Autobots. Prime nodded, his optics glowing with affection and camaraderie.

"Yeah, well, I just got word from the SecDef," Epps piped up, holding up his radio. "Clean up crews are on the way." He grinned up at the leader. "Most of this part of the city's been evacuated, so ya'll can move relatively freely for a bit."

"We would be happy to assist you in cleaning up," Prime agreed.

"Then let's start by getting those Con bodies here, this area's big enough I think," Lennox nodded thoughtfully, looking around the perimeter. He hesitated though, eying the group of new transformers. "Can I ask you a question?"

"I will try to answer to the best of my ability," Prime nodded.

"Those new guys, are they, children?" he hesitated, recognizing some of the antics to be children playing. The still whimpering Escalade, who was now being comforted by Sage, was a major clue. He looked back to see the worry and concern flicker across the Prime's face.

"We would prefer that it be kept quiet," he murmured. Lennox recognized the affirmative, before his mind put the pieces together.

"The Cube gave you guys life, and those are your babies…"

"Yes, the Cube was our main way of reproducing, but it wasn't the only way. However, it was the easiest and most widely used." The sigh that expelled from his vents, revealed his worries and weariness. "Without the Allspark, we cannot restore our planet, however, we may still be able to continue our race." Lennox noted what the big guy _didn't_ say though. Humans might not be ready to understand the, other ways of their people, or even the wide range of their different cultures. "We can speak of this later however, there is much to be done."

"I agree, too much needs to be done," the Captain nodded, but grinned up at the Prime. "I'll hold you to that though, I wanna hear about everything you're willing to talk about." The Prime blinked, then nodded. Lennox turned to organize his men, as the Prime turned to do the same.

- Until All Are One -

'For such an advanced alien race,' Sage pondered, as she hugged the Sparkling's helm to her chest, humming softly as he whimpered, 'their babies and, well, their whole actions and reactions are pretty close to our own.' She ignored the visual awkwardness of her position. She was comforting a baby, who was literally holding her cupped in his hands, up to his head. Ratchet had finished repairing the minor twisting of cables in the Escalade's knee, and was proceeding to give the others a thorough check up, showing a soft side as he comforted the Sparklings that few Autobots had ever seen.

Jazz had scooped up Mikaela, his claws carefully held away, so he could see the smallest Sparkling, the X-box, who had latched onto the girl and was happily cooing in her lap. Ironhide was busy checking on the tow truck Sparkling, who was just a little taller than himself, since he also knew field repairs. Bumblebee was actually holding the vending machine Sparkling, tickling under its 'wings' and making it giggle. Sam was telling Ratchet about the twins, as he checked over the present twin, repairing a few scuffs he'd gained from wrestling with the green Sparkling. Sage watched, her chest humming in pleasure at seeing the worries disappear for a few moments. When the Escalade nuzzled her sharply, reminding her that she was supposed to be comforting HIM, she laughed.

"You are such a sweetheart," she cooed, petting his helm. He purred, rubbing his head against her happily. "Nightshade," she chirped, blinking at him suddenly. The other Sparklings chirped and looked over. "I think your name should be Nightshade," she clarified. The Autobots shared looks, looking thoughtful.

"Our names are usually given to us by our Creators," Ratchet started, "However, we are also used to using given names by others for qualities we possess, or feats we've accomplished." He nodded to Ironhide for example. "After he'd gained his final frame, his armor was uniquely thick and blast resistant, hence he was given the designation: Ironhide." He looked at her seriously. "Why that particular designation?" he queried. She rubbed the Sparkling's helm thoughtfully, pursing her lips slightly in thought. She grinned when the Sparkling attempted to do the same, failing since his lips weren't so flexible.

"Well, for one, his armor is actually a dark gray shade." She started slowly, organizing her thoughts. The others looked over and saw she was right, it seemed in the shadows of the city to be black, but was a very dark gray instead. "Secondly, Nightshade is actually a plant here on Earth," they looked startled. "It's actually a rather pretty plant, that looks absolutely harmless, or rather, most members of its kind do. Truthfully however, it's quite toxic. He just suddenly reminded me of it, since he's so gentle and harmless looking, but I saw his weapons when he thought he and the others were in danger." She shrugged.

"It fits him," Jazz spoke up a moment later, nodding. "Ah say, if he likes it, he can keep it." The Sparkling blinked his red optics at her for a moment, then purred and nuzzled her again. "Ah think he likes it." Jazz chuckled.

"So what about the rest of them?" Mikaela asked, snuggling with the tiny bot.

"I don't know, but I know they have to be special," Sam piped up, grinning. "After all, they're the first Cybertronian babies on our planet right?" the two girls shared his grin, not seeing the looks the Autobots exchanged.

"Indeed, they are special," Prime's deep voice rumbled. They turned to see him looking down at the Sparklings with deep affection. "Unfortunately, I need my soldiers to come help clean up," he lightly teased. The others groaned, looking longingly at the group of innocents.

"Guess we can babysit for a bit longer," Mikaela teased back, as Jazz reluctantly set her down.

"Yeah, so long as they don't step on us," Sam muttered.

"They won't," Sage said confidently, climbing up to perch on Nightshade's shoulder.

"Indeed, they know that you are far more fragile than each other," Ratchet reassured, standing upright. Ironhide stepped past, showing the Sparklings the care he took to not step on them. They all warbled but contently began playing with pieces of metal and concrete from the debris around them. Seeing them have things under control, at least for the moment, the Autobots turned to leave, surprised when Barricade joined them.

"**I would like to say my farewells,**" he said simply, in their language. Nodding, Prime allowed the Con to join them. He stepped over the soldiers, heading to the nearest, who happened to be Blackout. Resting a servo on the still chassis, he bowed his head. A soft gurgle made him shoot upright. Blackout's optics flickered on briefly, looking at him silently.

"It's still alive!" one of the soldiers warned. Barricade hissed, slowly turning the wounded warrior over. Looking over the damages with a keen optic, he recognized Ratchet's footsteps as he moved over. Both looked over the damages, but Ratchet remained still for a moment, looking over at Prime. The soldiers quieted, seeing the quiet discussion going on between them. Slowly, the Prime nodded, looking at Barricade's emotionless facial plates. Instantly, the medic's servos transformed, closing leaking tubes and welding gashes back together.

"The war is over," Prime soothed the soldiers. "I cannot condone killing another of my kind, especially if he's in such a state to be unable to defend himself. He will be taken as a prisoner, so precautions will be taken" he assured them. Lennox nodded in agreement, causing his men to agree as well. The trust he had with his men was immense, if he saw the wisdom in the Prime's action, they would extend that trust to him as well.

"Hear that, glitch? You're gonna live," Barricade teased. The groan from the other Con made the humans smirk slightly.

"Ah ain't be-ing no hu-man pe-et," he warned, though the stuttering in his voice left it less than threatening. In response, the front-liner scuffed his helm, bending over to help close leaking tubing. "So-oo who's le-ft?"

"Us," he grunted.

"Scor?"

"Still functioning far as I know, though, his tail is probably a human trophy,"

"Damn straight," Epps chirped, rather cheerfully as he watched them work. Fearlessly, he stood right by Blackout's helm, not budging when the Con turned dark red optics on him. "That thing was awesome, that's how we learned sabot rounds take you guys down."

"Jo-oy," the unenthusiastic grumble made the remaining soldiers grin. The copter briefly glanced at the hunter. "Fre-nzy?" A minute freeze, before returning to his work. "Bet-ter hope dat cr-azy spaz's still on-line," he stated as cheerfully as he could, grinning maliciously, "Sound-wave'll rip ya a-p-a-r-t!" he sang the last word.

"Shut yer glitching processor, $#*!" the black and white growled, lapsing into their native tongue. A bark of laughter from the immobile Con, while a whistle of appreciation from the medic was his only response.

"Gotta remember that one for Ironhide's maintenance check." The hummer muttered to himself.

"Maintenance check?" Epps dared. Barricade chuckled, looking at the human with glee.

"Compare it to a full-body physical, including a VERY thorough prostate exam, and multiply it by three, and you'll get the point," he spoke maliciously. The soldiers shuddered in horror.

"Wait, how'd you know about…" Epps started but trailed off.

"I've been on Earth approximately three of your solar rotations," he replied, still grinning, "To stave off boredom, well, all uncomfortable situations for your species were always amusing to watch or hear about. Not to mention, some of your MMORPGs are quite entertaining."

"No-ot ta men-tion, it let ya ig-nore dat spazz-ing glitch of a pa-rtn-er," Blackout added, amused.

"I'm not the one who accidentally downloaded a human virus, when he mistakenly accessed a porn site while attempting to watch those human Sparkling shows." He retorted.

"Dos-e we-re for Sco-rpon-ak and ya kno-w dat!"

"Then why did I catch you singing along with that purple monstrosity? The "I Love You" song, I believe?"

"Slaggah! Ya can-not ha-ck mah com-mu-nicat-ion lines!"

"Apparently I can, and I swear I won't again, if that's what you do in your free time," the soldiers couldn't stop grinning, their heads going back and forth like at a tennis match. Ratchet, appearing to TRY and ignore them, was trembling slightly to hold back his laughter. Epps, holding up the radio, simply grinned. He knew the others were listening intently to the banter; maybe the other Autobots were listening too. "Enough, and stop recording us human, you know that's bad manners. You should at least ask for permission before doing so," Barricade commented darkly. Blackout turned to the human, looking at him silently for a moment, then grinned.

"Ah li-ke 'im. Re-mi-nd meh ta g-ive ya da re-cord-ing of 'Cade when he got da-t virus in Me-xi-co."

"Don't you dare," the growl was fearsome, but utterly ignored by the copter.

"Ah gots, lo-ts a bl-ack-mail on da uh-ders." He stated pleasantly. "Old 'Cade here, ne-va cou-ld sta-nd ta see-in an-oth-er ro-ach since Me-xico."

"Slagger, I swear when you least expect it, I'll dump a barrel of roaches down _your_ back plates! See how you like it!" he snarled, jerking him upright. A screech of static was his response, his legs twitching. "Why of all vehicles, did you have to choose a HELICOPTER?" he groaned, getting smacked by the blades as he helped him rise. A sharp sounding screech before Blackout stabilized though leaning heavily on the other Con.

"Oooh, Pri-mus, just fi-nish meh off!" he moaned.

"Do it yourself, in your free time!" Barricade snarled, purposely, and obviously making a joke. The soldiers snorted, laughing out. Epps groaned, shaking his head. He grinned at the yelp from the radio.

"Nah, Captain, the Con just told his buddy to jerk himself off later," Epps clarified, laughing at the sputtering from the other radio. The men trailed after as the two helped the injured over to the area they'd claimed as base camp. The groaning and complaints from the copter faded away when his optics landed on the Sparklings. He re-booted his optics three times, then looked at Barricade in disbelief.

"Che-ck mah lo-gic circ-uits, Ah t-hink Ah just s-aw Sparklin's."

"You're fine, they're there, and get off already! You're not the lightest mech, you know!" he grumbled; however, despite his vocal annoyance, he lowered him gently to the ground. The Sparklings, spotting them, crept over curiously. They poked his armor, careful not to touch damaged lines, and chirped questions at the adult Cybertronians. Ratchet replied to their curious questions, then headed over to assist Ironhide as he carried two damaged army vehicles over. Cautiously, the twin and Nightshade crept closer. Chattering to each other, the twin picked up some pieces of metal and climbed swiftly up the injured Con. Settled, he chattered and held up the pieces to the Con, then began weaving the soft metal together. Adding some concrete and smaller metal shards, he crudely made, what the teens presumed, their version of a crown of flowers. Chirping happily, he climbed up, wrapped the piece of metal around a jutting piece of armor, then stepped back to survey his work. Bobbing his head, he looked for assurance from the adults, as well as his Creator.

"That's very pretty," Sage nodded, complimenting. When the twin whistled happily and turned back to the two Cons, she pointed and gave them a Look.

"Very nice," Barricade commented, nudging Blackout.

"Um, ye-ah, pr-et-ty," he said awkwardly. "Th-an-k ya?" he added, seeing Sage's glare. It satisfied the Sparkling, since he chirruped, then climbed down to nestle in his lap. Sighing in relief at no longer being under the Sparkling's watch, Blackout relaxed marginally. "By da way, wh-ere's 'Cru-sha?"

"I think Prime got him," Barricade shrugged emotionlessly. He and Bonecrusher barely tolerated each other.

"Uh, oh," Blackout murmured. "If he's de-ad, da oth-ers gon-na be ma-a-ad," Fidgeting, the Mustang couldn't deny it. Sighing in dread, he turned and approached the Prime, who was carrying several wrecked cars.

"Yo, Prime, did you offline Bonecrusher?" he stated without preamble. The Prime jerked, looking at him in surprise.

"Yes, I believe so," something shown on the Con's face, disbelief.

"How?"

"I cut off his head," he shrugged. Barricade looked at him blankly, then turned and hollered to Blackout.

"That slagger's alive! AND I AIN'T DRAGGING HIS SORRY AFT OVER HERE!"

"BARRICADE!" everyone jumped. Sage put her hands on her hips, after surprising them with the bellow she just released. "Don't swear in front of the Sparklings! YOU KNOW BETTER!" The Con looked at her blankly, then grumbled and toed a loose piece of concrete. "What was that?" she asked sweetly.

"Fine! I apologize! Overbearing femme," he muttered darkly.

"Thank you Barricade," she called, shooing the excited Sparklings away from Blackout's more damaged areas.

"He's still alive?" Prime prodded, hiding his amusement.

"You can't kill that slagger with a plasma cannon shoved up his aft," Barricade grumbled, then raised an optic ridge at their looks. "I tried, believe me I tried, though it was set to low, so maybe that's why,"

"You and Blackout appear to be," Prime struggled for a correct word, "mild." And failed epically. "Would Bonecrusher be such as well?"

"No, the slagger would purposely drive me out of my processor until I tried deactivating him again," Barricade grumbled.

"He w-ould i-f Ah sen-t ova a da-ta p-ack-et!" Blackout called. The Autobots moved closer so he wouldn't have to be so loud. "He an 'Ca-de don't g-et 'lon-g if ya get mah me-an-in'. He an Ah, hav-e an un-derstan-din' so we c-ool? He li-sten ta meh, a-nd side-s, if he'd ge-t da ch-ance ta re-uni-te wit' his m-ates, no h-arm rig-ht?"

"Gestalt-mates?" Ratchet asked, alarmed. Blackout nodded.

"B-ut ya k-now, if ya h-elp-ed hi-m, dey wo-n't go a-gins' ya, 'spe-cia-lly sin-ce L-ord Meg-atro-n is g-one. Dey all rath-er m-ad act-ual-ly, he spli-t dem up, den disapp-eared, left S-cre-ame-r in c-har-ge," he shuddered, "Dey be happ-y ta i-gnor-e dat sl- er, idiot?" he caught himself as he spotted the look on both Sage and Mikaela's faces. Having mollified the femmes, he turned back to the contemplative Autobots.

"I still ain't dragging his frame over here," Barricade stamped his pede resolutely.

"Don't worry Barricade, he's still over by the highway," Prime reassured him.

"I'll tell Lennox," Ironhide turned, heading over to the Captain that had earned his respect.

"So w-here'd da l-ittl-e ones c-ome fro-m?" Blackout asked innocently.

"The Allspark," Sage answered, climbing up to sit cross-legged on his knee. "I asked it for help in moving it, and it activated my twins." She nodded to the one nestled in his lap. The twin chirped, pointing at her and purring. "He's the one who came with us, his brother's still with the others at the Hoover Dam."

"Y-our tw-ins?" he asked, amused.

"Yes, mine," she stated firmly, her eyes glowing. "Also HeavyLifter," she gestured to the largest Sparkling, who whistled happily at gaining a name. The twin whined softly, wanting a name too. "Sorry sweetie, I haven't decided yet," she cooed, petting his helm.

"An-d da o-thers?"

"They're technically the Allspark's," she admitted, "Sam wasn't as gentle with the Cube as we would have liked," she glared at her cousin, "but these sweeties came out of it," she cooed at the others. Nightshade chortled, coiling his servo around her gently. He leaned his head down to snuggle, looking up at the adult defiantly. "This is Nightshade," Sage giggled.

"This sweetie is Terabyte," Mikaela held up her little one, "She's rather shy though," The only femme chirped a greeting, then tucked her face back into Mikaela's neck, purring contently.

"She's associated you as her Creator," Barricade confirmed, then petted Nightshade's helm. "He's chosen you too," he added, looking at Sage. The girl smiled, hugging the second-largest Sparkling. The Con looked to see the remaining Sparkling hovering by Mikaela. "So you've got two," he nodded, then turned to Sage, "While you've got four,"

"G-good luck," Blackout grinned, "S-Scorp-ona-k's a servo-ful al-l on his o-wn!"

"You've got a Sparkling?" Sam asked, settling beside HeavyLifter.

"Nah," the copter shook his helm. "Sco-rpon-ak's not re-ally a Spa-rklin'. He's a sp-ecial case."

"His Spark was damaged, so he's constantly in a rather infantile state, he's more of a very intelligent guard dog. Far more intelligent than a drone, but not enough to survive on his own for very long. He's good at following orders though," Barricade explained.

"He's still in Qatar right?" Sage asked. The two nodded. "When things settle, maybe we can go get him?" They shared a look, communicating silently.

"Ah wo-uld app-reci-ate it," Blackout replied. "Do-n't wa-nna kno-w w-hat he'd do if Ah'm no-t dere." The sounds of helicopters interrupted their easy talk. As they watched, they also heard several vehicles approach, including several flat-beds and two trailers. Ratchet approached them, beckoning the Sparklings over.

"They'll probably fall into recharge as soon as we start moving," he explained, "not to mention they probably can't drive themselves right now."

"But HeavyLifter…"

"I drove him," Mikaela interrupted the older girl, "and only for a few minutes, he didn't seem to like it."

"He didn't like being dependent on you," Ratchet corrected, "As he didn't know how to drive himself, he was relying on you." He picked up the twin and green Sparklings, humming as they curled up against him. He was right, they were already starting to fall asleep. He chirped to Nightshade, who was led over to the trailer by Sage holding one of his large servos. She reassured and comforted him, glancing over to Barricade.

"We can keep an open communications line with him right?" she pleaded. The Con nodded, then gently shoved the Sparkling in. Whining, the Escalade did so, crawling in and taking the green Sparkling from Ratchet. He rested him on his frame, the two of them taking up all the room. Ratchet led HeavyLifter to the second trailer, the tow truck barely squeezed on, before taking the smaller Sparkling. "Hopefully the more mature Sparklings will keep them calm," Ratchet explained the pairings. Terabyte was small enough she could ride with Mikaela, so she wasn't a problem.

"Sage," Barricade called. He glanced over at Prime, who was watching the femme closely. "I am your Guardian, however, you are Linked to Prime. I trust him to protect you if you choose to ride with him." He ignored the startled looks the Autobots shared, but he did swat at Blackout's knowing smirk. The girl looked thoughtful, her golden eyes darting between the two mechs.

"I thought I was Linked to Megatron?" she asked quietly. Prime moved over, kneeling to speak with her.

"Megatron was my older brother," he admitted. "We are Linked in a family bond, to myself you are a Sparkling sister," he held out his servo, which she immediately perched on. He carefully raised it, so to not upset her stomach as previous times seemed to. "We have much to discuss, however, your bond to your Guardian is very new. It is only recently that I understood our Link, however we have both felt it since your Creation." She nodded thoughtfully, reaching up to hug his battle-mask.

"I guess 'Cade and me need to talk," she murmured, "but that doesn't mean we won't talk later!" she demanded. He chuckled, nodding slightly and pressing his helm to her head.

"I promise we'll talk, later," he promised. She smiled back.

"After you deal with the politics!" she chirped, laughing. He groaned softly, at that. She reached up and pecked his battle-mask, "Good luck with that, don't kill anyone!" she happily climbed down, giggling at his misfortune. He set her on the ground, nodding to her Guardian, before turning back to preparing the bodies for travel. His Spark felt lighter suddenly, finally recognizing the young Link to her. His little sister, he grinned behind his mask, he always wanted a younger sibling.

- Until All Are One -

pages 24

Thanks for the reviews! And thanks BrittanyMichele for reminding me of the confrontation between Frenzy and the others, I added it in real quick here. But no you're wrong about why Megs doesn't want Screamer to hurt her, but that would be telling ;P.


	6. A New Home?

THIS STORY HAS BEEN DEDICATED TO BRITTANYMICHELE FOR BEING AN AWESOME REVIEWER AND ENCOURAGER TO ME!

Summary: Sam's cousin has always been different. Despite this, she and Sam had always been close. When the Autobots come into the picture, will she allow her beloved cousin to deal with the repercussions of their arrival, or shoulder the responsibility herself? Is she strong enough to? Also, what is the connection she shares with several Decepticons? As well as the Allspark?

Warnings: I've watched the Movies, I've seen most of the episodes of Beast Wars and Beast Machines, seen some episodes of Armada and read various online stuff. I do not know most of the storylines in Generation one, but I do know most of the characters and their personalities. This will be a mix-matched version of what I do know, and probably will only make sense to me and those who have an open mind. The movies are awesome in special effects, and as I know them best, I will be using them as the starting point, but with info from other areas, such as the Ark having been crashed on Earth for a long time. I will also be royally screwing some things on PURPOSE to suit how I felt some things could have gone. In my mind this is all in a sort of ANIME-STYLE not live-action characters. Some bots and cons will be Movie style in alt mode, others will be Gen One.

Klik – roughly 1 Earth minute.

Breem – roughly 8 Earth minutes.

Joor - roughly 7 Earth hours.

Orn - roughly 13 Earth days.

Vorn - roughly 83 Earth years.

Disclaimer: Oops, I forgot to put this in. Obviously, I don't own Transformers, else I'd have the kiddie version, and the adult version. GO KINKY ROBOT SEX! LOL Plus I'd not be broke right now. XD

Chapter Terms:

Little Spark: term of endearment that portrays deep affection. Usually only used from a Creator to their own Sparklings and Younglings. However, can also be used between extremely close siblings, example: an older sibling to a younger sibling.

Darklings: a specifically odd term used for adopted Sparklings or very young Younglings. Darkling Sparks are extremely rare, they are far more sensitive to all energy waves. If a Sparkling or Youngling show signs of being a Darkling Spark, they are immediately taken in for testing. If they are simply Sensitive and do not display true Dark Sparks, they are returned to their Creators. However, if they are true Dark Sparks, they are trained by CORE Guardians to become Voices of the Allspark. Normally, the Voices and CORE will detect if a Darkling Spark is brought out of the Matrix, and will bring the Sparkling to a Guardian to be adopted and raised. If a Sparkling is created from Budding, then found to be a Darkling Spark, they will either be raised by their Creator with training from the Voices, or will be adopted by the Voices in case the Creator denies their Sparkling.

Darkling Sparks are seen as both infected abominations as well as blessed Primus-Sent. The reason for this is because their Sparks actually have visible dark spots. With training by the Voices, the Sparklings and Younglings can hide the spots from even the most well-trained medics, using their sensitivity for various purposes that other mechs or femmes cannot mimic. Very few admit if they are Dark Sparked, usually keeping the advantages to being so, kept secret.

- Until All Are One -

Title: A Change in Plans

Chapter Six: A New Home?

- Until All Are One -

_Previously:_

"I guess 'Cade and me need to talk," she murmured, "but that doesn't mean we won't talk later!" she demanded. He chuckled, nodding slightly and pressing his helm to her head.

"I promise we'll talk, later," he promised. She smiled back.

"After you deal with the politics!" she chirped, laughing. He groaned softly, at that. She reached up and pecked his battle-mask, "Good luck with that, don't kill anyone!" she happily climbed down, giggling at his misfortune. He set her on the ground, nodding to her Guardian, before turning back to preparing the bodies for travel. His Spark felt lighter suddenly, finally recognizing the young Link to her. His little sister, he grinned behind his mask, he always wanted a younger sibling.

- Until All Are One -

"Are we there yet?"

"No,"

"How about now?"

"No,"

"Now?"

"No,"

"…"

"No,"

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were thinking it,"

"Was not!"

"Yes you were,"

"…"

"Go to sleep imp,"

"Not sleepy,"

"Yes you are,"

"Nuh uh,"

"Then why are your optics closing?"

"It's called blinking, humans require it to keep our eyes wet,"

"And it takes thirty seconds to reopen them?"

"…"

"That's what I thought,"

"Ge-ez, 'Cad-e, n-eva k-new ya h-ad suc-h a sof-t Sp-ark,"

"Shut up Blackout,"

"Nu-h uh, t-oo muc-h fu-u-u-n!"

"Are we there now?"

"Ye-ah, 'Cad-e, we der-e y-et?"

"How about now?"

"N-ow?"

"Huh, 'Cade, we there yet?"

"A-re we d-ere yet?" Click.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Did you just…?"

"Yep!"

"…"

"…"

"Is he gonna be mad?" Malicious chuckle.

"Ah c-an't be-li-eve ya, 'Ca-ders! D-id'ja ha-ng up on meh?"

"I don't know, did it sound like this?" Click. Giggles. "Recharge,"

"Hmm, m'kay,"

"I'll wake you up when we get there,"

"mmm…"

- Until All Are One -

It was a relieved convoy of soldiers and Cybertronians who pulled up to Hoover Dam. Luckily there didn't seem to be much external damage, but they were cautious as they entered. The humans thankfully piled out of the vehicles, they had to take several detours to dodge around traffic and the blocked off areas around the city, so it had taken them nearly three hours to travel the distance. Plus, without there really being an emergency, they had travelled at a slower pace, since everyone was exhausted. Stepping out, they surveyed the clean-up crews that were working overtime, removing damaged machinery as well as moving bodies. The Autobots who weren't carrying passengers, slowly transformed, to not alarm the humans. Once all the humans had exited their Cybertronian comrades, the others shifted as well. Barricade was the only one to not transform, since despite his attempts, he couldn't wake the exhausted girl inside him.

"I wonder how bad it was," Lennox mused out loud, as he and his men split to assist. Sam and Mikaela moved over to the Mustang, helping the groggy girl from his backseat where she had happily curled up.

"I should have warned you, sorry," Sam apologized. "She isn't normally a deep sleeper, but 'cause of everything that's happened…"

"I understand," the Con stretched his joints and hydraulics happily, ignoring the staring workers. Once he felt all joints were loosened as well as all wires were unkinked, he placed his servos down. Sage, still half-asleep, crawled in the surprisingly comfortable dip of his palms, murmuring softly before falling asleep again. Barricade used her as an excuse to not assist with the cleanup.

"L-azy aft," Blackout groaned, nudging the tarps off his prone frame. He had been carefully placed on a flat bed, strapped down just to not fall off the surface, and covered in tarps. The bodies had also been moved in this way, but were also being moved somewhere else for the time being. A soft chittering sound was their only warning, before Barricade found the second twin climbing up his leg to dash across his arm, crouching to peer at her.

"Off," the hunter growled at the Sparkling. A threatening hiss was his only response. A second chatter before the first twin popped his helm out. The two looked at each other, servos twitching, their winglets shifting restlessly as they communicated silently. The other Sparklings slowly crept out, their optics dim with sleep. Moving to a cleared area, they promptly formed a puppy-pile, the smaller ones obviously resting on top of the larger ones. The twins shared another look, then joined them, purring as they wrapped around each other. The humans stared only a bit, then continued with their jobs, edging around the pile as they moved around briskly.

With the Autobots helping, they managed to clear the main hangar, which once held the Cube, in a short time. Ratchet immediately then began checking out everyone's injuries, clicking with annoyance. Mikaela offered to assist, which gained her a surprised and thoughtful look from the medic. She turned out to be perfect, helping him repair and solder damaged wiring and smaller components. One of Lennox's team, a mechanic as well, also assisted in the repairs. Sam commented that if Sage were awake, she'd happily be crawling around under armor. With the most serious Cybertronian injuries taken care of, the medic then turned his attention to Lennox's men. All of them stepped back in unison, but were immediately chastised and ordered forward one by one. Ratchet, surprisingly, had already read up on the human medical practices, so he was pretty well-informed. He also commented to the female soldiers and scientists when to expect their heat cycles to appear, much to their embarrassment, and the men's uncomfortable fidgeting.

"Yer right," Ironhide said gruffly to the Con, who looked at him in surprise, "it is amusing ta watch them in uncomfortable situations," and he got several glares from the humans for that comment, which he merely smirked at.

"That really isn't something you should bring up in a public area," Mikaela warned, rubbing at the blush on her face. Ratchet nodded thoughtfully, understanding his mistake. The rest of the bots cleared an area for themselves, settling down for some rest. They either didn't notice, or care, that the remaining scientists were watching them. Lennox noted which scientists who looked a bit too eager to study the moving Cybertronians, resolved to watch the mechs' backs as they rested. He could clearly see how exhausted they were, and if what Sam had said was true, they'd been fighting for longer than humans could be considered civilized, if not longer. Despite his team's, and his own, exhaustion, they agreed to keep a watch for the next couple of days. The least tired of them, the mechanic Jeff Williams, agreed to take first watch.

He comfortably pulled out his two firearms, spread cleaning supplies around him, and clearly sat between the grouped Cybertronians and the rest of the room, looking up keenly whenever anyone came too close. Everyone got the message, though the Autobots appreciated the protective gesture. The two Cons, reluctantly had been herded into the center of the Autobots, the Sparklings sprawled on their sitting forms. Blackout had immediately gone into recharge, his stressed systems unable to keep up. Barricade dozed in a light recharge, keeping his ward close to his chassis, but also kept perimeter alerts up in case anyone came too close to his wounded comrade and ward. Prime had settled the closest to the hunter, no doubt to be near his sister, silently strengthening their Link just as Barricade was. Ironhide had positioned himself on Blackout's other side, HeavyLifter was curled into his vehicle form, almost like a he was a teddy bear. Nightshade was curled between the two Cons, with the green Sparkling sprawled on his lap, one twin on Barricade, the other on Blackout. Bumblebee was positioned in front, angled sideways, his front bumper nearly touching Ironhide's, while his rear bumper was flanked by Jazz, who completed the front block with his rear bumper by Prime's grill. Ratchet was also in the center of the ring, blocking the view of the slumbering Sparklings and unconscious Cons by being right beside the two smaller concept cars.

- Until All Are One -

The next couple of days were eventful. Prime and Lennox were both debriefed and included into several meetings with various Generals and high-ranking officials. Frenzy had been brought to Barricade, and was repaired surprisingly. The Con had attempted to explain the spaz-bot's decentralized system, but stopped in a huff as most of them kept interrupting him with questions, so he simply stated Frenzy was very difficult to kill and left it at that. Bonecrusher was brought in; Ratchet repairing his helm, giving Prime a very dirty look, but his frame was locked as he processed the data packet Blackout had compiled for him. Barricade, for his part, deactivated the mech's communication array before remaining as far from him as possible. The Secretary of Defense announced the termination of Sector Seven, and how the rest of the frames of the fallen Cons would be dropped into the Laurentian Abyss. They were then moved to a more secure base, an underground one that was surprisingly roomy, and allowed them to move relatively freely. There, they were able to go over Seven's files, and start compiling their plans for building a proper base for the bots. Bonecrusher was surprisingly helpful in that regard. Due to him being a Constructicon, he simply contacted his brothers, described the necessary details, and in turn repeated the instructions from Hook and Mixmaster. With help from the Constructicon, they began searching for a good place to locate their base, needing very stable ground for one.

Of course not everything was peachy keen. The Autobots kept a very close optic on the Cons, the only exception being Barricade, and only because he had admitted to being formally charged as Guardian to Sage by Terra Prime herself. Several government officials were reluctant to work with the Autobots, many wanted their technological advancements, and a few wanted them gone completely. The teams were informed the number of casualties, including Mallory Blake Witwicky. Sage, at hearing the confirmation, was immediately handed over to Prime, Barricade looking uncomfortable at the feelings trickling down their Link, as well as the sight of tears falling from her eyes. The Prime had immediately tucked the girl to his chassis, rumbling a soothing purr as he strode to a secluded room, giving them some privacy. It was nearly three days later that the Spark siblings re-emerged, Sage's eyes red-rimmed with dark circles. Sam, who had been the only one allowed into the room with the grieving two, both brought food and drink to his cousin, as well as kept his parents from barging in. Yes, the Witwicky parents had been informed, and the Cybertronians learned to fear the wrath of a bat-wielding Judy. When they had finally been allowed to see their niece, Judy instantly turned from overprotective mother from hell, into the comforting shoulder Sage needed to finish her mourning.

Despite only being nineteen, Sage insisted on preparing the funeral, Judy and Ron as well as Will and Epps assisting her. The ceremony was a quiet somber affair, Mallory Blake Witwicky was cremated, her ashes buried alongside her husband's. The Autobots had also come, though remaining in vehicle form. Barricade had shifted his alt mode into a simple black Mustang for the ceremony and burial, taking his previous police cruiser alt mode again once they'd returned to the base. The only action Sage performed in remembrance of her mother, was sliding her wedding band on her necklace, joined by her husband's, so the two rings rested beside the dog tags she wore. She even took off the platinum engagement ring to Jake, simply tucking the ring into a jewelry box instead of wearing it.

A week after the burial of her mother, Sage decided to join the team full-time; her engineering degrees as well as other majors were to be put to good use once she finished her classes. Mikaela and Sam returned to Tranquility, to finish their high school academics, as well as prepare for their own career roles. Bumblebee, speaking up for the first time, had requested to remain with Sam, who had agreed. With base plans coming along, the Autobots were allowed a reprieve, as well as the human team. Lennox returned to his family, Ironhide as Guardian to the whole Lennox family. He was finally able to hold his baby girl, and reunite with his badly shaken, but completely relieved wife. Epps returned to his own family, as did most of the rest of the team who had family. Those who didn't remained happily with the remaining Autobots and Cons, helping them to prepare for the future.

- Until All Are One -

Three weeks of welcome down time, the Autobots and Barricade convened at the Lookout, both to reunite as well as relax. Prime looked over his relaxing mechs, seeing the peace between the humans as they greeted each other. Sam and Mikaela had become a couple, Lennox had brought his family to meet the rest of the Autobots, and Sage was humming softly as she leaned against his pede. He sent his transmission out, hoping more Autobots would come. Barricade also sent out an encrypted transmission, the contents of which would be discussed upon their return to base. An old military base rather close to Tranquility had been chosen as a small safe house. It was perfect for their needs at the moment, since they'd located a secure area in which to begin building a proper base nearby. They needed a base close by, since so many of their human allies lived near Tranquility.

"This is nice," Sage hummed, leaning against the panels that covered her brother's leg, feeling the warmth that radiated from his systems. Her golden eyes peeked up from her bangs, contentment clear. It had been a busy three weeks for her. She had to reorganize her class schedule to take online courses instead of actual classroom courses. The Sparklings hadn't been happy when their Creators had left them with the older bots and cons. Sage would remain on base, taking online courses, simply to keep the Sparklings from missing her and Mikaela. Every night, Sage would tuck them in, with Mikaela on speaker phone, so they would all settle down, giving the bots and her a brief rest.

"Yes, quiet at last," Barricade happily stretched, then settled down on the ground. Prime looked down at him, amused. His dark blue optics flickered to his sister, who had comfortably settled herself on his pede, leaning against his leg armor as she watched the sunset. He noticed she wasn't playing with the rings around her neck, a welcome sign that she was relaxed and not thinking about her fallen Creators. Turning his attention to what had her so riveted; he silently thanked Primus for bringing them to such an alien but beautiful world.

- Until All Are One -

They had returned to base, moving to discuss certain things in the hangar the Autobots had claimed as their own. It wasn't large enough to hold them comfortably in their bipedal forms, but it really was only temporary. Only a few humans were allowed into this hangar, including the three currently settling on a box car. The Bots and Cons were also seated around the hangar, while Prime stood in the center. Bumblebee came in, completing the circle, with Sam and Mikaela in his servos. The Sparklings, spotting their adoptive Creator immediately began chattering to the amused teen. Mikaela greeted Terabyte and SureShot, the x-box femme and Mountain Dew vending machine mech, respectively, happily. As the two snuggled with the high schooler, actually pushing Sam to the side to do so, the other Sparklings converged on Sage.

HeavyLifter settled quietly behind the box car, playing with a deck of cards Epps had managed to blow up. Nightshade was next to the older Sparkling, watching and clicking as he pointed out different plays. The twins had changed their alt modes into motorcycles, being the only small enough vehicles they could use, twin 2006 Yamaha FZ6 motorcycles. Both, when transformed, had their wheels behind their ankle joints, which allowed them to shift their pedes and skate around instead of walking if they chose. ElectroSurge had taken a dark blue and white coloration scheme; while his twin, Rewire, had chosen a lighter blue and white coloration. Rewire had actually begun following Ratchet around watching with eager optics as the medic repaired the others. PowerSurge, not as interested in putting things back together, had followed Ironhide around, interested in the weapon specialist's specialty.

Both twins had settled beside Sage and the two Rangers, joined by the teens and the other two Sparklings. Once everyone was settled, Prime cleared his vents, looking over at Will. The Captain stood up, clearing his throat. He didn't show his discomfort, when sixteen pairs of optics and four pairs of eyes turned to look at him. The three large Cons were mostly the reason for his tension, but there were more Autobots present so he firmly forced himself to relax.

"Okay, Prime believes that the Cons won't believe the war is technically over now, but would continue fighting simply for revenge."

"Sounds about right," Cade shrugged, looking disinterested. The Captain shot him a look, not finished.

"Cade's got a point," Blackout piped, ignoring the grumbling Captain. "Megatron was a good leader, not da nicest mech, but hey," he shrugged, grinning widely, "he had ta deal wit' us, so yanno, I'da be crabby too,"

"Not to mention, it'd be difficult to simply stop, since we've been fighting for _vorns_!" Bonecrusher growled.

"Let the fleshy speak, Bonecrusher, he looks about ready to self-detonate," Cade grinned unrepentantly.

"Don't tell me what to do, Sl- err, glitch," the mighty Decepticon front-liner hesitated at the look Sage had leveled at him silently. She'd proven her own temper to the Con already, and he swore never to cross her again. Shuddering at the recalled memories, he hunched down, ignoring the malicious glee on Barricade's facial plates, and the sympathy on everyone else's. They'd been present on that highly remembered day. Fidgeting nervously, the Cons were silent long enough for Will to continue.

"Anyway, because of these long-lived hostilities, Prime's worried and sent out the message to other Autobots." Will rolled his eyes at the gesture Cade made. "What was the message you sent out Barricade? We would all really like to know,"

"Hmm," the hunter tapped his claws against his hydraulics, his optics looking thoughtful. They were silent, letting him gather his thoughts. "I too, was calling for comrades," he started slowly.

"What! You Slaggin' Glitched up moth- ACK!" Ironhide's temper got the best of him. Ratchet, sitting beside him, had pulled out his wrench and smacked it upside his helm. At the same time, Sage had yanked off her gym shoe, took aim, and managed to bean him right in the olfactory sensors. Clutching both areas, the mech sat heavily, growling faintly. Ratchet picked up her shoe and lightly tossed it back to her, chuckling when she failed to catch it and had to chase it before it rolled off the box car.

"As I was saying," Cade continued, looking amused, "my comrades, being other CORE Guardians." Silence. The humans looked puzzled at how still the Cybertronians became, as they processed this bit of information.

"You're a, CORE?" Ironhide asked quietly, the only one without a hint of confusion. He looked downright disbelieving. "I thought they were all offlined."

"Some were," Cade studied his claws, regret visible for only a second. "The rest, well, we hid in both factions." He admitted slowly.

"So dere's Autobots an' Decepticons who are CORE?" Jazz spoke up, his visor flashing in surprise.

"More Bots than Cons," Cade reassured, "most of us weren't strong enough to survive being Cons, but some of us were,"

"Excuse us, but what are CORE Guardians?" Will asked.

"Is Bee one, since he's my guardian?" Sam piped up.

"No, there are different Guardians," surprisingly, it was Ironhide who leaned down to explain. His gruff voice was oddly gentle. "Different levels of Guardians were assigned to different things. I'm a Warrior Guardian, more like a bodyguard for the high-ranked, as well as a Mentor Guardian. Which means I could be a bodyguard or teach other apprentices to become Guardians."

"Your guardian, Bee, isn't a true Guardian, he's more like an assigned Watcher." Cade continued, not looking at the surprised scout. "Watchers are anybot who is assigned to look after another."

"There are specialized Guardians, I believe five?" Ironhide looked up at the hunter. Cade stared steadily back, impassive, then shook his helm.

"Six," the answer was quiet. "CORE, Warrior, Alpha, Omega, Beta, Protector."

"Alpha Guardians were in charge of protecting the Voices of the Allspark, as well as the Allspark itself."

"They were the first ones to be offlined," Cade commented.

"Omega Guardians were in charge of individual sectors," Ironhide continued, ignoring him.

"Those were complete idiots,"

"Beta Guardians were in charge of the Omega, kept them in line, as well as assigned them to different sectors."

"Even bigger idiots, though they were power-greedy glitches."

"And Protector Guardians, were, um,"

"You don't know?" Cade's delight was obvious. The weapon specialist growled, glaring at the smirking Con.

"If you know so much, then you tell them! You know perfectly well that only high-ranked Guardians were informed the goings on between the Units!" he fumed.

"Protector Guardians were rare," Cade stated, looking smug. "They're the highest ranked Voices of the Allspark who refused to simply interpret the glyphs, instead they secretly went underground and organized us CORE Guardians, prepping for the worst. It's due to their hard work and self-sacrifice, that we…" he stopped, hesitating.

"You what? Survived?" Ironhide snorted. Cade ignored him, looking at Prime thoughtfully.

"Why we were able to save over 80% of the Sparklings and Younglings, as well as most femmes," he studied his claws again, ignoring the gaping of the Autobots and Bonecrusher.

"Ya shouldn't have told em, dey weren't ready," Blackout noted, looking seriously.

"You knew?" Bonecrusher growled, glaring at the copter.

"Ah'm ranked level three CORE," Blackout bit out, hissing. Scorponak, curled up beneath his pedes, lifted his head, hissing at the large Con.

"I'm ranked level two," Cade answered the questioning looks.

"We're da ones who risked our Sparks, so our race didn't die," Blackout's armor was bristling, Will noted with curiosity. He had noticed that they seemed to fluff or bristle their armor when uncomfortable or feeling threatened, like an animal. He didn't lie to Prime, he wanted to know everything they'd be willing to talk about.

"CORE Guardians are like Spec Ops," Cade explained to the confused humans. "We usually don't identify what we are, but well, Prime needs to know, as do the others."

"So what did you do?" Ratchet asked, silent up till then.

"CORE, believe it or not, means Colonizing Off-world Reserved Ecosystems."

"We risked our Sparks, ta find ud'der planets, and colonized dem just in case, somet'ing like da war happened." Blackout growled. "We put Sparklin's an femmes in stasis, sent dem off-world to da colonies, managed ta hide our actions from Megatron, slag, most of da Council had no idea da measures we'd been working ta keep us safe."

"How many colonies? Where are they located?" Prime looked excited.

"Don't know, only highest level knew that," Cade replied, looking disgruntled. "I sent out the signal, though, the encrypted warning that only a CORE could pick up. We should get an answer soon,"

"Do you know how many CORE are still online?"

"No, we were only informed about a few, so we didn't know the exact number,"

"Dere's a lot, most are ranked level four, dey simply gathered supplies an' materials, sent dem ta rendezvous locations where da higher ranked sent dem ta other rendezvous. So no one could track where da colonies were." Blackout added. "Ranked level three, like meh, know 'bout being CORE actively, intelligence gatherin,' organizin' supplies, keepin' everyt'in' quiet."

"Ranked level two are higher-ranked," Cade looked thoughtful, "mostly officers, or those who can gain access to more confidential information. They're under the most pressure,"

"What 'bout ranked level ones?" Jazz asked, leaning forward. Blackout shrugged, looking away.

"They're in charge of the colonies," Cade spoke bluntly, but when he averted his optics, everyone could see he was hiding more.

"Anything else you can tell us?" Prime asked gently.

"No,"

"Anyt'ing else you want ta tell us?" Jazz asked. Red optics rose, locking with the saboteur's visor.

"Yes,"

"Ah," Blackout nodded wisely. "Lockdown Coding Shields," the others looked at him in disbelief.

"No way," Ironhide denied, "No bot or con would eva accept lockdown coding shields!"

"Well, it'd be a goo' way ta keep info quiet," Jazz shrugged, leaning back relaxedly.

"What are lockdown coding shields?" Epps asked, sharing a bemused look with his Captain.

"Lockdown Coding Shields, or LCS, prevents unauthorized access to information without clearance of at least rank level one CORE passcodes." Everyone stared at Sage, who was imitating her Guardian, picking at her nails disinterestedly. She looked up, her eyes a molten gold. "ShadowFlight told me," she said, simply, but looked at Cade. His frame tensed, his optics dimming.

"Access granted, information download ready. Initiate hardline connection," he murmured, then turned to Prime, pulling a cable from a side panel. The Prime looked over at his sister, who nodded encouragingly. Accepting the hardline, he plugged in, shivering slightly as their systems synched up. Both their optics dimmed, their servos twitching slightly as they reviewed information, sending and replying, asking and answering questions and inquiries. After a few moments, their optics brightened, Cade unplugging gently, seemingly VERY interested in making certain it was coiled correctly and safely, then locked the panel over it protectively.

"I must contemplate this," Prime spoke slowly, absently closing the port and locking the armor over it. His head was slightly bowed, his optics dimmer than normal. A frown formed briefly, turning to look at the CORE beside him. "A colony is close by?"

"Not certain, that's still protected," Cade admitted, looking thoughtful. "I don't know some of the information I'm protecting, higher LCS can only be unlocked manually by a rank level one." The Prime nodded, understanding, as information was accessed. Instead he turned to Will.

"There is one other agenda for today, correct?"

"Yeah, we're getting our first newbies coming by in a few days. We're gonna be transferred back to Glendale, you know, the underground base where we went over Seven's files?" he turned, grinning at Sage. "You're gonna be there too,"

"What? Why?"

"You seem to be an expert on our friends, plus you can semi-control the Cons," he replied cheerfully. Snorts from the three mentioned made the Bots grin. She groaned, seeing the brief look of mischief on her brother's face.

"I'm not the only one who gets to deal with aftheads it appears," he smiled, relaxing at the laughter. He didn't feel any pity for his sister. None. What. So. Ever. He'd done his duty with government politicians, she gets the soldiers.

- Until All Are One -

They had transferred back to Glendale, continuing their preparations for needs they would have to address when others began arriving from the transmission. Sage and Prime spent the little amount of free time they had learning about each other and testing their Link. Sage admitted to the difficulties she experienced due to the Allspark, as well as the hardships she grew up with. She glossed over briefly the terrible three years she spent with her grandmother, and completely edited out the situation between her and Jake. She only briefly mentioned the several bad relationships she'd gone through; leaving him the impression she wasn't at all interested in finding love. She also decided not to mention to him, what the Cube had told her during Mission City. The fact that she could feel her body adjusting and shifting, becoming more Cybertronian, and the sacrifice she had chosen to protect them from Megatron, was also conveniently left out.

Prime, also glossed over battles he'd seen, sparing her the details of how many he'd seen die, both in combat and in Ratchet's care. He told her mostly of how Cybertron was before the war, how peaceful and beautiful it was. She learned about his life before he was named Prime, and how close he and Megatron were before they were placed into positions of power. When he'd been declared Prime, Megatron had been chosen as High Lord Protector. They had been a good team, until Megatron's betrayal.

Sage, listening intently about the long life of her brother, felt awe and humbled. He'd gone through so much, but still kept his helm up, continuing strong. To be connected to the gentle mech, she felt beyond lucky. One night, after speaking to each other, and silently basking in each other's company, a question popped into her mind. It was simple, but personal, and wasn't the first time she'd thought about asking him this question. She was a very shy person, the only reason she'd been so active during the three days that everything had happened, was because of stress and fear, not to mention adrenaline. So it took her several weeks to muster up the courage to ask this simple question. Several weeks of observing the silent and not-so-silent behavior of their alien friends; finally gathering the courage, she asked the question. At the response, a gentle acceptance, she curled tightly in a ball, snuggling into his warm seat, repeating softly as she fell into a peaceful slumber.

"My big brother, Orion,"

- Until All Are One -

The Bots and Cons decided to remain in their alt modes when the new soldiers arrived, entering the large hangar that housed them at this particular rest spot. Will and Epps, obscenely cheerful at seven in the morning, were quietly commenting to a groggy Sage. Cade, taking his instructions from Terra Prime seriously, had begun teaching her different things, and had purposefully kept her up longer the previous night. He had been amused, ignoring the slight scolding of his ward's brother, when she'd happily passed out in his interior after their lessons ended. She'd been awoken at five-thirty in the morning by the two soldiers, who had ushered her to her room to get ready. After showering, changing, and nearly falling asleep in her breakfast, she'd been brought back to the hangar by the amused soldiers, and promptly leaned against the closest Cybertronian, nearly nodding off again. The Cybertronian, a grumpy Bonecrusher, didn't make any fuss, since he understood her pain, growling viciously at the cheerful hunter. He valued his recharge more than he valued Energon, so he didn't mind when she'd sat by one of his massive wheels and leaned against it. She was quiet, respectful to him, except when he swore in front of the Sparklings, so he respected her back, kinda.

At seven exactly, the doors were opened, letting several squads in. The soldiers, not realizing they were being watched, joked with their teammates, contemplated their reassigning, and looked around with surprise and wonder at the amount of tech they could see in the room. The new soldiers were from all different branches of the military, from all backgrounds of life. The one thing they all had in common: they were the best in their classes, best in their lines, and were highly recommended for loyalty, patriotism, and dedication to their duty. They ranged in age, from the best students right out of training to seasoned veterans. Will and Epps watched them, proud at the answer to their call for duty.

When the first soldiers walked in, Sage reluctantly moved from her spot, straightening up, and checking her appearance. She wore the same fatigues that Will and Epps wore, desert fatigues, around her neck though, was her high clearance ID as well as her ranked N.E.S.T. badge. She, Will, Epps, the rest of their squad from Mission, as well as Maggie, Glen, Sam, Mikaela, and Keller all wore this specific NEST badge with honor. They were the only ones to have it; it allowed them into the hangars occupied by the Cybertronians at any time. None of the other soldiers or civilian workers would receive this badge, unless they proved themselves to all of those it mattered to.

She adjusted the belt, smoothed her uniform down, and checked that her bun was tight. Her bangs and shorter strands were pinned back with bobby pins, she didn't wear a hat. The combat boots she'd been given were shined, tied tightly and felt really heavy to her. It took her some practice, before she was walking in them almost as silently as she normally did. The three of them stood between the soldiers and the Bots and Cons, Will and Epps two steps ahead of her, while she stood a step to the left of the Captain. All three stood in the at ease position; it had taken the soldiers three days to drill into her head the proper military stances, and she still didn't know how to properly address a higher officer. She was mainly to act as an interpreter between them, all three of them having small blue-tooth like earpieces that the Bots and Cons would use to communicate. Ratchet had made them for them, as gifts, since some areas of the base couldn't be accessed easily by their larger frames. Bumblebee, having been called to the base, was occupying the Sparklings in another room, far enough away that new soldiers couldn't stumble on them, but close enough that they could rush there in moments if something happened.

At seeing them waiting, the soldiers lined up in their squads, looking forward stiffly. Will addressed them, thanked them for arriving and briefly explained about Mission. They had all been briefed before arriving at the base, but it was very minimal details. Will expanded on their questions a bit. He repeatedly emphasized that they were aliens, that they were fierce fighters, that any negative provocation would be intolerable. He mentioned some weaponry, causing some soldiers to perk up, as well as the duty they would be taking, as cover and comrades to these millennia-aged veterans.

As he addressed his soldiers, Sage listened to the commentary between the bots and cons. Most were impressed with the numbers, there were at least fifty squads with six members each, and this was only the first group. They had two more groups, though, thankfully, the last group would be smaller. Some commented on some qualities in some soldiers they were worried about, others were impressed at some of their records. After Will finished, he allowed questions, which Sage answered with assistance from her brother. Most of the soldiers looked at her with different emotions. She could tell they were jealous that she was so deep in something so amazing, that they were annoyed that someone so young was higher ranked than they, as well as puzzled as to why she was spokesperson for the large warriors. Others appeared grateful that she would be dealing with them, and not the soldiers themselves. She answered some questions, redirected others, and blatantly ignored others, replying sharply that certain parts of their culture were off-limits. She was polite, but detached, looking out for them, because they had become her family, not just because she was Linked to two of them. If there was anything that would make her break her normal quiet composure, it was threats to those she loved. She loved every single one of them, even the other three Cons had wiggled into her heart. And if she had any say, no enemy would ever get close enough to harm them.

- Until All Are One -

By the time the last group arrived, all three of them were exhausted. The second group had responded like the first group, skepticism, wonder, fear, understanding, curiosity, etc. Sage had also realized, she probably wasn't going to be well-liked. No matter what kind of a person she was, since she was the youngest, and one of the highest ranked, they would always be jealous and look at her suspiciously. She hid her hurt at their obvious derision with expertise. She'd been faced with such negative emotions before, so her automatic calm façade prevailed through most of the day. No one else seemed to notice, except for her Guardian and the other Cons. They were experts at reading others' intentions, having had to do such in order to survive the harshness of Decepticon ways. They had made a list of soldiers to keep an optic on, reading their subtle behaviors and body-language to the news of serving with alien robots.

"One more to go," Will murmured reassuringly, watching them fall in. Sage groaned softly in disbelief, wanting desperately to sit down. Remaining in military stance sucked! It was worse than working a ten-hour shift at a fast-food restaurant! At least then, you were moving and dealing with situations to get your mind off of how much your feet hurt. Will addressed them with a similar speech to the other two groups, Epps explaining things as well. It was when she was beckoned forward to answer their questions, that the boring repetition was dissolved.

"This is Sage Blake Witwicky, she is the spokesperson to our guests, and will answer your questions if she can, and explain if she cannot answer others. She is to be given the same respect that we are to be given," Will nodded as she reluctantly stepped forward. She looked at the sea of soldiers, ignoring the expressions on their faces, and the fact that she was shorter than any of them.

"I will answer any questions I am able, though certain topics are off-limits to speak about," she greeted, hiding her exhaustion. She felt her brother send his affection and love down their Link, and it helped her gather her strength. She wasn't prepared, however, when one soldier raised his hand.

"Permission to speak freely sirs and ma'am?" a familiar voice called out.

"Permission granted," Will acknowledged.

"Sage, what the hell are you doing here?" the disbelieving familiar voice asked. Sage, blinking, looked at him properly, shocked.

"Jake?"

"You know each other?" Will asked, looking surprised. The soldier, a tall graceful man, stepped forward, his dark brown eyes locked on her frozen form. He was good-looking, cropped sandy-brown hair, rugged looks and a slight tan on his pale skin.

"I would hope so," he drawled, looking at her. The look he gave her wasn't lost on the Cons, who bristled. "She's my fiancée."

And all hell broke loose.

- Until All Are One -

Believe it or not, that's the end of this story. I actually managed a decent cliff-hanger, I hope. I think. It's a bit shorter though, so sorry about the wait!

Anyway, thanks for reading, and thanks extra to my beloved reviewers. BrittanyMichele in particular!

This story is dedicated to her, since she's been such an awesome reviewer.

Sorry for the late update, a few issues rose in RL so yeah. I have the first chapters of the sequel and prequel already written, but updates will probably be a lot slower with those.


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